Sunday, May 16, 2010
UCSB Evening Path

This is an out-take from a shoot for an annual report. The only reason it was left behind on the first pass is the client was specifically looking for a two page spread. Of course when you have a beautiful evening you shoot everything that catches your eye. Invariably the client comes back looking for a different angle or more images. Or, at the very least you can come back a few months later and find some hidden gems that were overlooked on the first pass.

Sunday, February 15, 2009
Santa Barbara Harbor Sailboats

Whenever I feel like wandering around aimlessly with my camera the Harbor is one of my favorite spots for a stroll. This was an image I took a couple of months ago around the same time I shot a massive panorama of the harbor. Sometimes the individual images wait around until I get all the huge projects done. It's times like now that I enjoy going back and seeing what else I may have missed. Especially because I have a bit of a cold so I thought better of running around in the cool weather with my camera this weekend. I have to get healthy since we are supposed to have the storm to end all storms sometime starting in the next day or so and I want to be well enough to go play in the snow. It's really important to never grow up too much!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Figueroa Arch

This was one of the last few shots I took at the end of a very long day of shooting at the Courthouse. It was almost completely dark on the Figureoa side, so this was an extremely long exposure. Actually it was three long exposures combined to pick up the bright archway, the wall lit by the passing car headlights, and the near darkness of the sky. Today was a great day of shooting!

Monday, January 26, 2009
SBCC Stearns Wharf View

Saturday was a beautiful day. We had the opportunity to wander around and enjoy the sunset. Which is one of the things I like to do as much as possible this time of year. This was the view from Santa Barbara City College just a bit before sunset. Sometimes my images are totally controlled and I have a plan for exactly what I'm looking for. In this case I stared with a shot from the pathway that you see. The streetlights were not very interesting looking. But after I got what I was looking for I took a walk around to see what I might be missing. I thought the path looked nice so I got a few shots, but even then I did not notice that the lights were already on. It was only after I got home and looked through the pictures that I saw the glow in the lights and decided this was one of my favorite images.

Sunday, December 28, 2008
Pacific Grove Sunset

This is from a couple of nights ago. It was a beautiful evening. Of course right at this very spot the wind was almost strong enough to knock me over at one point. But it was still very beautiful. I'm posing it a bit late (it's not actually the 28th anymore I know!) but I do have a bunch of trip shots to get online. Unfortunately the trip was too short with too many cool things to do. With a couple of projects going now that we are back in town, I'm keeping my system busy processing photos. But I'll get new things online as fast as possible.

Friday, January 18, 2008
Shorline Sunset Panorama

Click the main image for a larger view

As I have mentioned before, there are very few places you can see the sunset over the water in Santa Barbara. Our coast faces the south for the most part. But there are a few small sections that give you a glimpse of the setting sun.

This is a combination of thirteen shots covering more than 200°. My intention was to shoot an entire 360° image. In the end this particular set of images caught the best lighting to bring out the beautiful texture of the clouds. But it did not quite make the full circle.

If you like the panoramas, you should check back. My wife got me a couple of nice tripods, and one will be perfect for a panoramic head I have been drooling over... er, I mean carefully considering investing in. :-D

Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Garden Path

There are a bunch of these little pathways in Carmel. Some of them lead to little shops in the center of the city blocks. This one lead to a little garden shop that sells all sorts of plants and garden figurines. One of the cooler things on the path was the enormous vine that made an archway at the center of the path. You can see it at the top of the photo with the little red Christmas lights in it. It was truly a different world compared to the city street at the other end.

Monday, August 22, 2005
Sunset Run

This was a nice evening. We were still recovering from yesterday's adventure, building a sand castle. I wanted to finish a roll of film so I can get some images of our winning castle online! We spent the evening wandering around the Mission Rose garden and the Stearns Wharf areas. This image is from a previous sunset walk near the Wharf. There were less clouds tonight, but it is always a beautiful area.

As for the castle, our church entered an annual sandcastle contest on Leadbetter beach this year benefiting the Music Academy of the West's scholarship program. My best friend was in charge of the design. After a few iterations, she settled on "Gracie the Musical Dragon" (a distant relative of Puff) in honor of our church "Grace Lutheran". Our dragon was playing a keyboard made of sand and driftwood. It was a lot of work, all together I estimate we carried 150 gallons of water, but we were rewarded with a first place ribbon in the adult category! There was also a professional and a childrens' category, both of which came up with beautiful designs too.

Come back tomorrow to get a look at Gracie.

Saturday, July 9, 2005
Lotusland Walkway

The patterns on the sides of this walkway are actually rounded stones. From this angle it looks like the center of a Labyrinth.

Hmm... I wonder where the Minotaur is...

Saturday, April 23, 2005
Monterey Garden Path

After stopping at the Monterey Museum of Art we looked around the garden across the street. Apparently Monterey is in the process of restoring many of these small gardens throughout the city. From this view it is hard to believe this is in a very busy part of downtown Monterey.