Saturday, February 18, 2006
San Fernando Fountain

This is an interesting mission. It is at a bit of an unexpected place right in the middle of a city, just north of LA.

Friday, February 17, 2006
Santa Barbara Mission Twilight

This was a long exposure. The exposure time made the reflection much more interesting. it gave the effect of the sharpness near the bottom of the image getting blurry near the top where the water was falling from the top of the fountain.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Mission Lily

There are a million photos of the Mission Santa Barbara out there. Which is all the more reason to look around while you are there to see if there might be something you would miss with the standard "Visitors Bureau" shot.

Wednesday, September 7, 2005
Mission Sunset

Sunset at the Mission, would only be better if that tree were not in the shot. But that's ok, I like the trees around here.

Friday, August 12, 2005
A View from the Mission

Most of the mission shots you see don't give you an appreciation for the beautiful setting of the surrounding Mission grounds. The beautiful color in this photo is from the setting sun which was behind me to my right. Although the moisture in the atmosphere makes it hard to see where sky ends and sea begins, you can see hints of the outlines of the Channel Islands at the horizon.

Friday, July 15, 2005
Bells at Mission Santa Inéz

This is the bell tower from inside the mission grounds.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005
La Purisima Mission Bell

This was taken the first day experimenting with a new present, a polarizing filter. It made the sky much more intense.

There is a never-ending supply of wonderful subjects at the California missions.

Monday, July 11, 2005
Nighttime Mission

The cool thing about this long exposure is that fact that it made the surface of the water look like glass. If you look closely you can see that there are blurry areas near the center of the fountain where the water was running down. But most of the waves that moved slowly across the surface disappeared. I thought the motion of the ripples across the water would blur a larger part of the reflection but sometimes you get a pleasant surprise.

Friday, July 8, 2005
Mission Doorway

Once in a while my best friend and I go out and take pictures together. This would be the same best friend who taught me most of the technical things I know about photography. The best part of going to the same place together is you get to see what you missed. Or, see the same subject through someone else's eyes.

Her picture of this scene was a really nice close up on the basket. With the filtered light through the trees and the texture of the basket it made a really striking composition. Ever since looking through our shots from that day I have been much more aware of the drastically different images you can get from the same subject at the exact same moment.

Now, when I approach a subject, I try to grab a few "first impression" shots immediately. Then, I take the time to ponder what else is possible, what textures and odd compositions can I find, and of course...

What would my best friend see?

Thursday, July 7, 2005
Mission Santa Ynez Arches

Not long after I took this photo they repaired the plaster. Which would have made the photo much less interesting. :-D

Wednesday, July 6, 2005
Mission Santa Ynez

Another in the line of California Missions. This is just on the other side of the mountain. The bell tower is much simpler than the Mission Santa Barbara, but the simplicity is kind of nice too.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Mission Palms at Night

Always lookin' for a different angle on a subject. Especially one as photographed as the Mission.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Mission Kitchen

I really liked this picture. It is one of the first batch of photos I pulled out to scan when I got my new scanner a year ago. But, I was not sure who else might find it attractive. Turns out, it is pretty fitting for a Mexican Restaurant.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005
La Purisima Room

I like this room, just simple and plain. This mission has been destroyed and rebuilt at least once in it's history. Fortunately it is in pretty good shape now. It's a beautiful place.

Friday, June 17, 2005
The First Mission

Statue of the founder of this and eight other California missions, Father Junipero Serra. This is the first of twenty-one missions.

• More informaion about Mission San Diego de Alcalá

Monday, June 13, 2005
Mission Arches

One of my new collection of local architecture images. I am preparing them for a restaurant remodel.

Sunday, June 12, 2005
Cross Bird

Well... maybe a little agitated anyway. (Cross Bird... Mad Bird... get it? oh never mind! it's not funny if I have to explain it!)

Sunday, June 5, 2005
Ventura Mission Silhouette

Unlike most of the missions, this one is right in the middle of downtown Ventura. It makes it convenient to get photos of it since I have been doing some coding for a company right down the street from it.

Thursday, May 5, 2005
Mission Storm

I actually went out to get a shot of a really nice rainbow. But the scene of the clouds over the mission was the best opportunity of the day. The clouds were bunched around the mountain. As the sun set, it was shining under them through the heavy rain close the mountain. It made for some particularly dramatic lighting. As you can see from the streak of car headlights on the right of the photo, this was not a short exposure.

Sunday, May 1, 2005
Mission Gardens

There are quite a few images of the front of the Santa Barbara Mission. And for good reason, it is a beautiful place. But it's beauty is much more than skin deep.

Sunday, April 17, 2005
Nighttime at the Mission

I almost lost this image. It was on a roll of film in a camera that I had not used in a few weeks. Assuming it was empty I opened the back of the camera. Luckily the best shots seemed to be early on the roll and deep enough in the camera to not be affected.

This was a long exposure from the edge of the fountain. the blurry area in the water is the affect of the water on the surface over the length of the exposure.

Saturday, March 26, 2005
Mission Gate

This is a gate in a wall around La Purisima Mission in Lompoc California. You can see another of my images of this mission here and read more about the mission itself. I really like the archways and shapes of this Mission.

Thursday, March 3, 2005
Mission Sunset

We don't get a lot of clouds around here. But when we do it's quite a show, the whole sky was lit up like this.

Sunday, February 27, 2005
Christmas Mission

Mission Santa Barbara “Queen of the Missions” was founded on December 4, 1786 by Father Fermin Lasuen. It was the tenth of 21 Franciscan missions in California. It holds the distinction of being the only one to remain in continuous use since the day it was founded. Named for Saint Barbara, and founded on the day of her annual memorial feast, it continues to operate as home of the Saint Barbara Parish.