Golden Photos

Sunday, March 15, 2015
Golden Hour Paddle
Evening on the Santa Barbara Harbor breakwater. The afternoon was a little more cloudy than expected, it gave us a nice break from yesterday's heat. But the sun still managed to peek under the clouds at the end of the day to bathe the city in golden light. I had the good fortune to spend the day exploring with my best friend, location scouting for beautiful spots for a new senic shot of the city. But in the end everything came together at one of our favorite locations. That's ok, we still found some good spots for another day when the light is different, and had a great time!

Friday, September 23, 2011
Toro de Oro Pepper Reflection
The Golden Bull pepper... or Toro de Oro. This amazing beauty is from the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market. I picked it out on State Street this Tuesday for a photo shoot for a couple of upcoming Fine Art food photography shows. One show will be part of First Thursdays in Santa Barbara. The show will be displayed at the office of Casa Magazine in downtown Santa Barbara and the reception will be First Thursday (of course) the sixth of October at 5 to 8pm and is open to the public. Hope to see you there!

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, October 25, 2009
Camino Cielo Sunset Over Cachuma Lake
Sunset is one of the most beautiful things that happens every day. It's so hard to take the time to enjoy it. Most people think of the sun setting over the surf in California, and that is the case in most parts of the state. Our little section of the coast is a little different. We look south when we watch the waves break and this is the view from a trail at the top of our mountains. Just in front and to the right of the sun you can see Lake Cachuma, a man made lake which is a beautiful home to all sorts of amazing wild life including bald eagles. Someday soon I'm going to go catch one of them with my camera.

Friday, August 14, 2009
Knapp's Castle 360 VR
This is one of the most beautiful spots I can think of in the
Santa Barbara area. Knapp's Castle
was a beautiful mansion in the early 1900's. But even the impressive
construction from those days could not stand up to the wild fires
we have in the mountains here. A few arches and stone walls are
all that remains of the mansion. Fortunately the panoramic view of
the Santa Ynez Valley is as breathtaking as ever.
Part of this image was on the photo of the day before,
Storybook Castle Sunset. But I recently
had a chance to work on the high resolution image again when I was working
on my 2010 Santa Barbara Calendar.
This is the September image. In the process I was also able to finish
the whole 360° view.

Thursday, April 30, 2009
Storybook Castle Sunset
Click on the main image for a larger view.
One more shot from the mountains. And, if I had to choose,
I think this would be my favorite. I really like the way
the wall frames the stairway.
Update:
If you have Flash installed, the full 360° view virtual reality image of Knapp's Castle is now available online, here.

Sunday, April 26, 2009
Knapp's Castle Sunset Panorama
Click main image for a larger view
This is another one of the "test" shots
from the hike up the mountain the other
day. Well, OK, actually more of a drive up
the mountain followed by a half-mile hike on a nice trail.
Regardless, it was a beautiful evening!
These two shots were exactly what I had in mind
before I got there. I still have some ideas
for a later evening shot or two, but I'm going
to have to find some warmer clothing before
I go back up for that.

Friday, April 24, 2009
Knapp's Arch Sunset
For the last couple of months I have been contributing a "Photo of the Week" to a local news site, Santa Barbara's Blog. Yesterday a request came through them for a shot of Knapp's Castle, the ruins of an old mansion that burned in the forties. It is just over the peak of the mountain north of Santa Barbara overlooking the Santa Ynez valley and Cachuma Lake. For the last year I had been trying to get up there to get some photos, so I was happy to get up there and take some test shots. The intention was to just check out the location and plan for equipment and timing. But, I'm pretty happy with the test shots. I'm still going to try to get up there again soon, but it's hard to beat a couple of nice shots on the first pass.