Saturday, January 28, 2012
Getty Sunset Perch

The Getty is a wonderful place full of beauty. And the art is amazing too! This was a beautiful evening. The light from the setting sun made the amazing architecture on the hill glow. This spot on a high balcony was the perfect place to watch the show. It was a great place to watch the people go by too.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Happy Holidays From Santa Barbara

Yes I know the Holidays are over, but the flag was still up when I took this (Look closely to the left of the light.) and we just took our tree down. ( I really like to make the most of the holidays ) So lets just say I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are having an amazing new year!

Monday, January 16, 2012
Santa Barbara Channel Islands View

This winter has been unseasonably dry, but this weekend we had some beautiful clouds. I had been planning a trip to this spot in the hills for some time. But to get what I wanted (a view of the islands and a clear shot of the wharf and harbor with a beautiful sky) I needed the perfect combination of clouds and clear air. I finally got it!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Silvergreens Sunset

Our winter sunsets are absolutely amazing. Yesterday I was down town running some errands. I had plans to try to catch the sunset, but I knew it was going to be tight so I just brought my camera along for the ride. I was really glad I did. Fortunately there are an abundance of great perches in town to find new angles.

Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sandpiper Lake Sunset

Sunset at Sandpiper Golfcourse in Goleta California. This little duck pond (or water hazard to the golfers out there) is one of the most beautiful places to watch the Sunset in the Santa Barbara area. The sounds at this time of day are amazing. You are over a hill from the roads and populated areas with so many frogs and ducks that it seems like you are far away from civilization. Although I have never spent enough time to get hooked myself, from this point of view I can really understand the attraction of golf.

Friday, December 30, 2011
Evening at the Getty

This was from my first trip to the Getty Center in Los Angeles a few days ago. Although I enjoyed the art, the architecture was the most amazing thing. This spot near the West Pavillion overlooks the Central Garden, it is an amazing spot to watch the sun set.

Sunday, December 18, 2011
Christmas Carols At The Old Mission

Every year on the Saturday a week before Christmas, Saint Barbara's Parish has candle-light Christmas carols on the steps of the mission. At the end of the carols they bless the creche (nativity scene). This is one of the few times that the mission is even more beautiful than usual.

Sunday, December 11, 2011
Santa Barbara Sunset from Butterfly Beach

The end of a beautiful Santa Barbara day as seen from the west end of Butterfly Beach in Montecito. The lights across the water are at the beach in Santa Barbara.

Monday, November 14, 2011
Sandpiper Golf Course Time Lapse Sunset

The Sandpiper Golf Course is fast becoming one of my favorite sunset spots. And I especially like the duck pond (aka water hazard). What better location to try some new techniques for some interesting time lapse shots. If you are going to stand around for a half hour with your camera watching the world go by this is surely one of the best places to do it.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Cachuma Lake Sunset Reflections

The last time I was at Knapp's Castle I took a little time to focus on the reason the castle was built in the first place. This is the view from what I can only assume would have been the main living area of the castle. It was particularly good timing since the sunset was amazing. But this video starts as the sun is slipping below the horizon. The faint light pillar and all of the bright spots you see that look like the sun are actually reflections in the flat ice crystals of the clouds. In calm air they can float horizontally and act almost like a mirror, putting on a spectacular show. Even after the sun dips below the horizon. If ever there was a good reason for an encore performance, this was it!

Sunday, August 14, 2011
Knapps Arch Golden Hour

This is a shot from my recent trip to Knapps Castle. Although there is a lot of construction going on, it is still the most beautiful place I know to watch the sunset. This is about forty five minutes before sunset, but the sky was beautiful until late in the evening. If you decide to make the trip, take some warm clothing! As soon as the sun goes down it can get really chilly and windy, even this time of year.

Friday, July 8, 2011
Mission Sunset Time Lapse

Time lapse of the sunset over the Santa Barbara Mission from the Mission rose garden. The Mission is my favorite place to try out a new technique, so after an evening of driving around trying to find an interesting spot that might have some interesting clouds I ended up here. And I wasn't disappointed.

Sunday, June 26, 2011
Knapps Arch Sunset

Time lapse of the clouds over Knapp's Castle at sunset. Santa Barbara, California. Recently I had the opportunity to visit Knapp's castle in the mountains above Santa Barbara. The day I was free to go, the mountain was completely socked in. We call it June Gloom in Santa Barbara. But it makes the sunsets anything but gloomy. By the time the golden hour rolled around, the fog had turned into beautiful clouds and just enough haze in the air to make the light beautiful and golden.

Sunday, June 19, 2011
Cachuma Lake Sunset

Yesterday I had the good fortune to have the combination of a client who needed a good shot of Knapp's Castle and a wonderful "June Gloom" sunset. Our june fog always makes for the most amazing displays if you look for them. The fog itself is very beautiful especially when it is rolling in and out. But the sunsets can be spectacular. I actually thought I might not get much of an opp

Sunday, May 22, 2011
Winter Sunset

Watching the sunsets here really makes you aware of the drastic changes in the position of the sun through the seasons. This time of year the sun would already be over the hills at the right. This shot was one I had almost overlooked in a collection of early January images. It is actually part of a much bigger panorama. But looking closer I found the person standing in the surf watching the sunset which I thought made it much more interesting.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Sandpiper Duck Pond at Sunset

A view from the duck pond at the Sandpiper golf course. Of course if you're a golfer, rather than a photographer you might call it a water hazard. But at this time of day there were more ducks than golfers. And even more frogs for that matter!

Sunday, April 3, 2011
Sandpiper Golf Course, Virtual Reality

The Sandpiper Golf course is perched right on the coast just north of Santa Barbara and Goleta. It's a beautiful spot any time, but sunset is especially gorgeous.

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Monday, March 14, 2011
Storke Twilight Vertical Panorama

UCSB offers no end of beautiful scenes, but one of its most immediately recognizable features is Storke Tower. Not just a simple bell tower, the bells in Storke Tower actually make up an instrument called a Carillon. It is played with closed fists on pegs in an arrangement similar to a piano or organ keyboard. Each peg rings a different bell.

Thursday, December 16, 2010
Under the Tree by the Coral Casino, Virtual Reality

I love the Butterfly beach area in Montecito. When the tide is low you can walk all the way to Summerland in one direction, and back to East beach in Santa Barbara in the other direction. On the other hand when the tide is really high, or after a strong storm when the sand is washed away you can't get much of a beach walk. Thats when we like to walk along this walkway by the beach and watch the waves and sunset.

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Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Mission Sunset Glow

The Santa Barbara Mission is an amazing local gem. It is one of the places I go just to play with my camera. The evening I took this however, I was on a mission to get a nice long exposure, evening shot of the mission. I almost turned around when I saw how thick the fog was getting, but the light coming through the fog can do some interesting things. Once I got to the mission I could see that the fog was cooperating nicely rolling in behind the mission but still giving me a clear view, with the beautiful sunset colors filtering through in the background.

Sunday, October 3, 2010
Courthouse Twilight Garden Panorama

The architecture of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse offers no end of enjoyment for a photographer. This view looking over the sunken gardens just after sunset shows the amazing lighting that so perfectly accentuates the features of this wonderful local treasure.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Courthouse Twilight Garden

Santa Barbara County Courthouse at twilight from the sunken gardens.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Santa Barbara City College Evening, Virtual Reality

This little area out at the tip of the SBCC mesa is one of the prettiest views in Santa Barbara. You can see everything from the harbor to the wharf and all of the beautiful houses up the mountain on the other side of Santa Barbara.

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Friday, July 2, 2010
Pepper Tree Inn Virtual Tour

A beautiful spot on upper State Street in Santa Barbara, this is the Best Western Pepper Tree Inn. It was a great spot to do a tour. Be sure to look around closely for the arrows to move around and see the rest of the beautiful grounds.

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