Dinosaurs

In the town of Huasna, there are a few dinosaurs out in the hills. There’s not much else out there besides horses and cows. We did find a couple of cool things out on a dirt road. There was a burned down house and a very old car that a field had started to swallow up.

These photos were taken with Perfect B&W. I’m going to write up a review of the app soon. Don’t buy it yet. There are some issues and, at this point, I can’t recommend it. I used the Ansel filter on the first photo. Apparently Ansel turns the sky completely black in all photos. The 2nd and 3rd photos were edited with some of the other b&w filters in the app. They really aren’t my style at all, but thought I would share anyways.

 

Joshua Tree Sunset

This was a challenging sunset shoot for me for a couple of reasons. #1 It was very, very windy. #2 I forgot to charge my batteries before this trip and by the time we made it to Joshua Tree, they were both flashing at me because they were nearly dead. I had to set up a shot ahead of time, turn the camera on, take the photo, and turn it off immediately, just to conserve the battery.

Lesson learned. Always double check the batteries before leaving on a trip and bring the charger even if you don’t think you’ll need it.

I really didn’t expect much of a sunset because of the mountains to the west. I’m used to wide open ocean for the sunset, so anticipating what the scene would look like in the dessert was a challenge. I didn’t think there would be any color in the sky. I was totally wrong. Not only did the sky behind me in this shot turn pink, but the land had a salmon colored glow to it. It was cool to see even if I didn’t get any incredible photos of it. I still have to edit a few of those and see if I like them.

Shot with my Nikon D7000 on a tripod. Edited with Photoshop CS6, Topaz Software, and Nik Software.

Limekiln Log

To answer your question, yes, the water was that blue.

This is one from my trip with Shannon to Big Sur, CA. We camped at Limekiln State Park, where this was shot. Early on, there is a fork in the trail. To the left is the waterfall and limekiln. This is off to the right. I hadn’t gone that way before, so this was a wonderful find.

I took the easy way out on this shot, but it still came out great. Instead of hopping across some rocks and onto a log like Shannon, I stuck my tripod in the creek from the bank and used the LCD to set up the shot.

In other news, I was recently asked by Topaz Labs to share some photos for their online gallery and be a guest blogger, so I think I’ll be sharing how I edited this lovely shot with their plugins.

Wildflowers on Figueroa Mountain

I took my first trip up to Figueroa Mountain this week. I’d never been before, so I invited my friend/student to come along for a spontaneous adventure. It’s a lot of fun shooting with someone else thats passionate about photography. Even though we are at different levels, she brings a great perspective and usually sees amazing things that I’m not aware of. I tend to see big, sweeping landscapes, while she sees the beautiful details.

You can’t tell from the photo, but these flowers are on a steep, rocky mountain. I tried to hike down to get some much better vantage points, but I only made it about 10 feet down before the ground slid out from under me and I sent a large rock tumbling down the hill. After seeing that thing tumble down the hill like Chris Farley in Black Sheep, I decided I’d better stay up on the road. Mostly for my camera’s sake.

On this particular day, the lighting was all over the place. It started out sort of overcast, which is good for flower photos, but it wasn’t dynamic enough for my taste. Then the sun poked out for a little bit while it was low on the horizon. That totally changed the scene and brought back some of the vibrant colors. Then, out of nowhere, some fog started to creep in quickly. It actually made for some interesting photos because it was golden fog.

These were taken with my iPhone, but I also posted a photo from my D7000 on my fb page and flickr.

Redwoods

This is the kind of place I could hang out at for hours. Under some big trees. Next to some water. Away from civilization. With good company and my camera. I guess I’m just a simple man

This was a trail at limekiln state park that I hadn’t checked out before. There were a few awesome spots for photos along the creek. I’m sure I’ll be posting those sometime soon. I’ve edited an image from my Nikon, but I’m letting it sit for a while so I can look at it again with fresh eyes. I think I might want to start over from scratch and go over every pixel to make it perfect because it has a lot of potential.

This was shot with camera+ and edited with SimplyHDR.

Through The Redwoods

Ok I have a few minutes to kill before I hit the road again. That means you get to see one of my images from the last trip. This was shot with my Nikon D7000.

Thats not a small bridge, its a huge redwood. This was just on a random trail off of the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway in northern CA.

Granuja Falls at Uvas Canyon

On my way out of the bay area yesterday, I stopped at Uvas Canyon because I heard there were waterfalls out there. The park is in a very rural part of Morgan Hill and kind of reminded me of the pacific northwest. There are lots of trees with a trail, with several wood bridges, that meanders alongside a creek. There seemed to be quite a few little falls. I didn’t have enough time to scope everything out because I arrived just before the park closed. I’m thinking I could spend a couple of hours there next time I’m in the area.

Shot with the default camera app which is probably why some of the falls are overexposed. Edited with Snapseed and Tadaa.

Crater Lake

It was cold and the snow was deep. We didn’t bring any snow gear on this trip because we thought we were going to be on the coast the whole time. That didn’t stop us. I was knee deep in snow at some points.

The whole time I was looking at Wizard Island, I was thinking of my oreo truffles. I know you see it too.

Both images were shot with camera+ and edited with Snapseed.

Fake Lake

Looks like a reflection at a lake doesn’t it? I could have made it even more realistic by darkening the bottom half of the image a little bit, but I got kind of lazy, so you’ll just have to imagine its darker.

Salmon Creek Trail

This was taken along the Salmon Creek Trail. There was a gushing waterfall just beyond this point that was looking very healthy after some wet weather we’ve been having. Side note, wet weather in California is like 2 days of rain in a row. Hopefully I can find time to edit and share the Nikon photos of the waterfall soon. I’m still playing catch up with all my photos.

Shot with camera+ and edited with Snapseed. I’m sure this would look cool edited with ShockMyPic as well, but I never got around to trying it.

New Years Ride

In just a few weeks, Monica has whipped me into shape and got me riding independently with confidence. I’ve gone from being nervous and uncomfortable on the horses to riding bareback with no hands and my eyes closed lol. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer my eyes open and a saddle!

If it wasn’t for photography, I wouldn’t have had this amazing opportunity to learn to ride horses and appreciate them for the incredible animals they are. We met online by chance and I found out she wanted photos for her business in exchange for as many riding lessons as I wanted.

If you’re interested in horses, or mustangs in particular, Monica has a  fb page, United Mustangs of America.

Shot with camera+ and edited in Snapseed.

Enjoying the View

I saw this old couple sitting on a park bench, one chilly morning, not long ago. I thought I’d be stealthy and sneak behind them for a cool photo op.

Stormy Mt. Shasta

Mt. Shasta in the distance. I wanted the clouds to clear a bit, but no such luck that day.

A Few Wedding Pics

First, let me just tell you that this wedding was a challenge for a few reasons. Pushy moms, an annoying aunt with a photography degree yelling at me to get out of her shot (yes, really,) and things were running late pretty much all day and there was a gay pride parade in the park that I wanted to shoot the portraits in. Since things were running late, the bride decided she would rather do pictures at the hotel than the beautiful park or nearby lake. Not what the photographer wants to hear! I tried to work with what I had, but there weren’t any great backgrounds available.

Having said that, I love this first image because it perfectly captures how gross the happy couple is together and how we all really feel around them.

The tough guy shot.

There are more images on my facebook photography page and I’ll probably add some more today.

Delicious Doughnuts

It had just rained a lot the previous few days, but there was still some haze over Eugene yesterday. I thought I’d try to get a decent pic with ProHDR anyways.

While I was out exploring downtown, I stopped at Voodoo Doughnuts. I had no idea that more people hadn’t heard of them before. They’re famous for their crazy doughnuts. The main store is in Portland, and they have one in Eugene as well. Lucky for me, this one didn’t have a line around the corner.

This is the Old Dirty Bastard. Raised chocolate doughnut with oreos and peanut butter. It was amazing! I’ll be making a stop there today on my way out of town to grab a half dozen for my friends.