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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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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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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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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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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Crab Pots, Woodley Island Marina

Crab Pots and Fishing Nets at Woodley Island Marina, Eureka, California

Though I'm a nature photographer at heart, I find one of the most zen-like photography moments to be wandering around fishing docks before dawn. There is just something really calm and soothing about them that I can't explain. This is one of the reasons why I am so drawn to photographing the coast.

I've seen other photographers make really great images of crab pots and fishing nets so I've wanted to take my own photos as well. When I first arrived in Eureka, I found several stacks of crab pots in a restaurant parking lot. I kept a mental note to return the following morning. And I did. A few days later, I found a huge stockpile of crab pots at the Woodley Island Marina. They were behind a fenced-in area for fishermen however so I didn't try to photograph them. But the urge to photograph these crab pots kept eating away at me so I went back the next morning and found the guy who patrols the marina. I asked him if I could go in to shoot pictures of the crab pots. "Sure, I don't see any reason why not."

I found the people in the North Coast to be a lot more easy going and friendlier than in San Francisco and L.A. Ask somebody for permission to shoot pictures in Southern California and you'd have a 50/50 chance of getting told to f*** off or get your gear smashed by a crowd of drunken celebrity-groupie, trust-fund kids.

What I like most about Woodley Island Marina is that the crab pots come in all sorts of colors. It is nearly impossible to take a bad picture here.

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Redwood National Park

Tourist in a Hollowed Redwood Tree at Lady Bird Johnson Grove, Redwood National Park, California

I had previously been to the redwood forests at Muir Woods National Monument and Big Basin Redwoods State Park, but the North Coast redwoods are in a league entirely of their own. The Lady Bird Johnson Grove is seriously the most awesome forest that I have ever visited in my life.

The rhododendrons were still in bloom and a lot larger than what I had expected. The blooms grow at least 15 - 20 or more feet above the ground in some cases. There was no fog during my time in Humboldt County so I had a limited window of opportunity to photograph the redwoods in decent lighting. The light was just too harsh during the daytime.

Lady Bird Johnson Grove classifies as an old-growth redwood forest, which means that it has never been logged. The trees are much more thick and dense here than second-growth forests. It is apparent from the minute that you walk onto the trail. The extreme amount of precipitation that this area receives also plays a part in their immense size. (The world's tallest trees).

I only encountered three or four groups of people here in this night and was the last person left by the time I left. This experience would be nearly unheard of in a tourist-mecca like Muir Woods. It was so eerily quiet at Redwood National Park, that I could hear elk calling from a distance.

I waited eight long years to make the trip up here. I am certainly not going to allow another eight to go by without spending more time up here. The photo opportunities are simply too abundant to do this area justice in a short amount of time.

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PALCO Timber

Photo: Stacks of Timber at Pacific Lumber Company Mill (PALCO), Scotia, California

As you drive further north along U.S. Highway 101, you see an increasing amount of logging trucks carrying large loads of trees in Mendocino and Humboldt County. I have no idea how many trees these stacks of timber represent but given the demands of a growing population, it probably takes a lot of timber to meet the demand.

Now that PALCO is under new ownership by the Mendocino Redwood Company (the owners of which also own The Gap clothing chain), environmental groups are hoping for a return to ecologically-sustainable logging practices. They certainly have a tough task ahead while trying to balance business with environmental demands.

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Postcard Row, San Francisco

Picture: Downtown Scenic View From Alamo Square Postcard Row, San Francisco, California

This photo was taken from one of the most popular tourist stops in San Francisco. Despite the popularity of this place, I actually sold a picture of Postcard Row from my last trip to San Francisco so it made sense to try photographing it again. This time I decided to use a telephoto lens to compress the scene whereas last time I just used a wide angle lens.

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Twin Peaks Panoramic, San Francisco

Picture: Twin Peaks Scenic Panoramic, San Francisco, California

Despite having lived in San Francisco for three years, I had never been up to Twin Peaks before this trip. Man, I totally missed out!

This nearly 180 degree panorama of the city took 10 separate images to stitch together with AutoPano software. To show the incredible amount of detail here, I cropped out a single building from the larger panoramic: The iconic, Transamerica Pyramid. Due to fading light and the wind, I had to turn up the ISO slightly hence the grain.

Large Panoramic Photo Crop of Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco, California

Here are more of my panoramic photos.

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Chevy Nova, Capitola

Photo: Chevy Nova on Street, Capitola, California

This whole trip was about exploring new places. Capitola is another place that I had not been to previously. The beach is probably best known for the multi-colored bungalows. On this sunny day it was too crowded over there to walk on the beach and get good photos of the bungalows however.

The downtown area is a cool place to walk around. A lot of boutique shops, restaurants, bars, and classic cars parked on the street. I think there might have been an event right before I got there because the area was cordoned off to traffic except for classic cars. What I found most unique about Capitola was that it reminded me more of Santa Barbara than a town north of Monterey. There is definitely a strong beach culture here.

I was reminded of my grandfather when I saw the Chevy Nova parked on the street because my grandpa used to drive a '62 Chevy Impala and would pick me up from pre-school with that car while my parents were at work. I can't imagine any of today's cars being preserved in this manner 40 years from now. Everything is too mass-produced on a global-scale to be of any sentimental value.

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Skyglider Aerial Tram, Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Picture: Tourists Riding Skyglider Aerial Tram at the Beach Boardwalk, Santa Cruz, California

With apologies to my future wife, I took this picture before the accident. Though a travel image, this photo is based on the landscape photography style. I think it is good to learn from all styles of photography because you never know when you might need to use it. Here, I have the tourists and the bench leading the eye toward the aerial tram at the top of the frame. This is not much different than a standard landscape composition with foreground, mid-ground and background elements. Once I found a foreground I liked, I waited until the Skyglider Tram brought along some tourists passing through at the right moment.

In another picture, I photographed some girls riding the tram looking bored out of their mind. It really said a lot to me about today's culture. Kids are so into the texting, instant free music downloads, and video games these days that they can't even enjoy classic family fun like the Santa Cruz Boardwalk anymore. I'm not sure I'd want to raise my kids in that manner. The Boardwalk is much more memorable in my opinion because it brings us back to a simpler time when there was less noise competing for our attention.

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Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Photo: Giant Dipper Rollercoaster, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, California

I had driven past the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk twice in the past but had never walked around. The first time, I was on the way to the opening of Frans Lanting's gallery in Santa Cruz and it was raining outside. The 2nd time, I was on my way to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Well this time, I was in Santa Cruz strictly for the Beach Boardwalk.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is one of those places that you can't say you have done the California coast until you have been there. It is referred to as "Coney Island of the West" and for good reason. It's probably the biggest beach amusement park in the West Coast. Pacific Pier in Santa Monica is decent sized for being on a pier, but the Santa Cruz Boardwalk is a full-blown amusement park - a destination of it's own. The best part about it is that it is free to go there.

I felt sort of guilty right before shooting this picture. I was sitting on the curb cleaning my gear when a pretty girl was riding by on her bike. I made eye-contact with her. She smiled. I go back to minding my business. Then about ten seconds later I heard a loud crashing sound. Her tire got caught in-between the railroad tracks apparently. The family sitting next me got up and helped her out because she fell in front of their face. Meanwhile I was sitting there pondering, "What the hell just happened?!?"

The girl was fine and rode off eventually, but I felt like a jerk for not putting my gear down for a second and join in seeing if she was alright... Sometimes it's better to act first and think later. That is a concept that works well for photography as well. Photographers that are too methodical will miss all the important shots during key moments of action. In hindsight, it would have been awesome to have photographed her riding by and falling. :-)

The people riding on Giant Dipper were clearly having a better day.

70-300 @ 142mm, f7.1, 1/1000 sec, ISO 400

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Downtown San Francisco Skyline

Picture: Downtown San Francisco City Skyline, Treasure Island, California

Believe it or not, last week was only the 2nd time that I had photographed the San Francisco skyline. It is such a picturesque scene that I wasn't going to pass up another opportunity to photograph it. My best friend used to live on Treasure Island and I was over there frequently, but I never tried shooting this because I was too insecure back then about shooting "postcard rack" pictures. Nowadays I'm all about enjoying the moment.

My favorite image from the photo shoot was a 180 degree panoramic spanning from Treasure Island over to Alcatraz. It took 13 photos to create the panoramic. There's no way of adequately displaying it on the web without it getting ripped off unfortunately.

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God Bless America, San Francisco

Photo: Chinese Woman Approaches Caucasian Women in Front of U.S. Flag Mural in Chinatown, San Francisco, California

This scene reminded me of how far society (in California at least) has come when it comes to race relations. I won't elaborate, but it was pretty bad even when I was growing up in the 80's and 90's.

In the next frame, (not shown here) the other lady reached out to take the flier from the Chinese woman but it wasn't visible in the frame from this position unfortunately. I think that would have been a dream picture of mine to have gotten that.

17-35mm @ 17mm, f9, 1/320 sec, ISO 200, handheld

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Portsmouth Square, Chinatown

Picture: Card Gambling in Chinatown's Portsmouth Square, San Francisco, California

At Portsmouth Square, you can find men and women playing Mahjong or cards all day long, often for money. Probably due to traditional Chinese customs, the men generally stay on one side of the park while the women congregate on the other.

Initially I walked around trying to ask questions about what card games people were playing, but since I don't speak Chinese, it was a futile effort because few older people in Chinatown understand English. Either that or they suddenly "forget" how once they see a photographer...

Next time I plan to spend an entire day photographing Chinatown in better light. In order to get more insightful pictures, I would probably need to hire a well-connected translator as well. I understand some Cantonese, but that is of little use when you can't speak.

17-35mm @ 17mm, f6.3, 1/160 sec, ISO 200, handheld / no flash

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Chinese Family Association, San Francisco

Photo: Yee Fung Toy Family Association, San Francisco, California

When the Chinese first started immigrating to California during the Gold Rush, most did not speak English. This made it difficult for them to assimilate into society. Combined with the racial discrimination of the time, immigrants needed to form family associations in order for protection. This eventually became The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, more commonly known as the Chinese Six Companies. Individually, the Chinese were weak, but as a group the associations were quite powerful politically.

Fast-forward 150 years later, family associations still exist to help immigrants out when they come to the U.S., and are typically a place where the older generation of Chinese socializes. San Francisco's Chinatown has many family associations, as well as the Los Angeles Chinatown. I would like to have posted a picture of the Wong family association, but I didn't know where it was.

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Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company Factory

Picture: Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company Factory, San Francisco, California

Four or five years ago I met this guy while walking past a gated side alley. He told me that he was a martial artist and asked if I was interested in photographing him practicing. It was dusk and the light was fading fast, so I tried my best with pop-up flash since I didn't have a compatible flash at the time. I thought it was a rather unusual encounter, but that is what makes street photography interesting.

So I figured there might be something interesting this time around too if I walked the alleys. Walking past this half-opened doorway, I see dingy, factory-like conditions so I popped my head in there out of curiosity. The lady said I could come in so I asked if I could take pictures. 50 cents. I had just stumbled into the fortune cookie factory!

I was quite surprised by how hot and humid it was in there. To be honest, I thought it would be some glamorous, touristy looking shop just like most things in San Francisco. Fortunately that was not the case.

Unfortunately, this picture isn't sharp even shot wide open at ISO 800. The lady was moving and I wasn't comfortable using the flash in her face. It probably would have helped me get a faster shutter speed though by under-exposing the ambient light and let the flash handle the rest. Bounce flash would have worked better than a diffuser as well because a diffuser tends to create hard shadows if the subject is close to a wall or other objects.

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Venice Beach Skaters

Photo: Teen Skater Jumps Off Ledge, Venice Beach, California

I stayed off to the side initially. I didn’t take photos for a while until I felt comfortable and so I could blend into the background. At first I just took wide angle snapshots from far back to warm up for close up action then gradually worked my way closer. A couple of the kids asked me questions, but once they were on their boards they did their thing. Then I noticed that all of them were starting to line up for jumping off this ledge so I went over there too. I crouched next to a metal trash can where I knew they would be avoiding a crash landing and took photos from as close as I could safely get.

I had my composition ready before the skaters jumped and waited to catch them as they flew by. What I was hoping to do was catch some mid-air tricks and maybe a few wipeouts but no one landed badly so I had to settle for the tricks. I would have liked to have gotten this guy’s entire arm in the frame but I think the rest of the image is interesting enough to make it a keeper.

17-35mm @ 17mm, f8, 1/320 sec., ISO 100, handheld

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Hare Krisha Dance, Venice Beach

Picture: Hare Krishna Drum Circle Dancing, Venice Beach, California

Venice Beach is a street photographer's dream. There are a lot of different things to photograph here on the weekends. Some are more mainstream activities such as playing basketball, tennis, surfing, etc... but there is also a lot of counterculture and street performers. I've also been to Venice during a weekday but the vibe wasn't the same so I wouldn't recommend going there on the weekday just to shoot photos.

This photo was taken at the Hare Krisha drum circle that played out along the Venice Boardwalk. Playing a tribal drum beat, the group kept chanting, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare." Followers were also handing out promotional materials for the Hare Krisha Cultural Center and several local restaurants. I spoke to someone briefly about what they were doing, but it was over my head. Though I did read on Wikipedia that their practices are based off of the Hindu religion.

Shooting action scenes is not easy particularly when it is very crowded. I took about 325 images of the Hare Krishna, the Venice Drum Circle, Muscle Beach and skaters just to get a few publishable pictures.

My main strategy for these types of photos is to pre-visualize the corners of the frame before I put the camera to my eye. By the time I look through the viewfinder, my finger is practically tripping the shutter already. When there are many moving elements, there is no time to compose in camera. It has to be seen in your mind first. I'm always looking at the corners of the frame and seeing the center through my peripheral vision because the edges often make or break a photo. Even as is, this image isn't perfect. The guy on the right corner crept into the frame.

I find taking people pictures to be very challenging because it requires you to interact with the subject. I'm shy sometimes around people I don't know that well so it would be easier to hide in the corner somewhere with a telephoto or to avoid taking photos altogether but that doesn't make for good photography. To quote National Geographic photographer, Bill Allard, "What does a telephoto lens do for you that you couldn't do yourself by moving in physically? Robert Capa said if your pictures aren't strong enough, you're not close enough. What would have happened to this picture if instead of staying in your safe and secure spot and cranking the lens, you'd moved in? It's hard to establish rapport from twenty-five feet away. I'm not going to find out something about that person from fifty yards behind a tree."

17-35mm lens @ 17mm, f8, 1/400 sec., ISO 100, handheld

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Huntington Beach Kites

Photo: Kiteboarding Kites, Huntington Beach, California

It's hard to believe that a few days ago it was overcast and 60-something degrees. Today it is around 100 degrees. I would imagine that Huntington Beach doesn't look this way either today.

I don't do much high-key photography but it looked interesting on my computer in this case. Does anybody else feel the same way?

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Huntington Beach Kiteboarding

Picture of Kiteboarder Flying Over Waves, Huntington State Beach, California

There weren't that many people at the beach because it was cold. The cool part though was there were quite a few kiteboarders out there riding the waves. I had never seen this sport before so I wasn't sure how to anticipate the moves. I only took a few pictures but this one was my favorite.

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The Electric Riverboat Angela Louise

The Electric Riverboat Angela Louise at Balboa Fun Zone, Newport Beach, California

Writer's block doesn't just happen to writers. I have been to Balboa Island and the Peninsula a number of times in the past year or so with the intention of adding some images to my collection. Each time I couldn't get myself to take any pictures so I ended up going to other places to take photos afterward. Then something clicked last week. The price of gas. It's too expensive these days to squander trips without taking publishable pictures.

Balboa is a nice place to take a date and have some fun, but the beaches really aren't that photogenic here unless you like taking people pictures. They are just long stretches of flat beach without any unique geological features and few unique attractions. The opposite side of Main Street faces Newport Harbor though and has the Balboa Fun Zone. This is where the tourist attractions are located. The most recognizable landmark here is the Balboa Pavilion. What caught my eye though was the electric riverboat.