Cabo San Lucas

October 16, 2016

Hola. We just got back from our first time visiting Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We headed down there with a group of over 30 friends, so as you can imagine it was quite an experience.

I didn't get a chance to get out and take as many photos as I wanted during the day because the weather was uncomfortably hot and humid. Going from indoors to outdoors caused my camera lens components to fog up so bad that it would take a while before they were usable. So unfortunately, I had to spend most of the day in the pool with a gang of friends hanging out at the swim-up bar with unlimited free drinks.

Here are a few shots I wanted to share with you...

On the way home, the Mexican Airport Federales confiscated my travel tripod and would not let me take it on the plane. Everything seemed to be less restrictive in Mexico, except for possession of a tripod I guess.

To Catch a Shooting Star

August 13, 2016

The annual meteor shower know as the Perseids is going through an outburst this year, which means sky watchers can view more meteors than usual, up to 100 per hour. Last night it was at it's peak.

My Nephew Chris recently purchased a digital camera, so we decided to head out into the darkness to practice our night photography skills and see if we could capture a meteor streaking across the sky.

We ended up in East Apple Valley, far enough out to get away from some of the light pollution from the High Desert Cities. With cameras, tripods, remote shutter release and flashlights in hand, we walked through the Desert night to find some rock formations offering a suitable foreground with the North-East sky as the backdrop.

It took quite a while fumbling in the dark to get the correct exposure and focus settings. Now we are ready to roll... As the shutter button is pressed, let the show begin. I said, let the show begin... ohhh sooo slowly.

Actually, we did end up seeing lots of meteors, probably more last night than the previous total I have seen in my entire life. But of course, never in the area that my lens happened to be pointing. Eventually, both of us did end up capturing a couple. Not the iconic huge streaking fireball, but a meteor nonetheless. Did anyone else on earth happen to capture a photo of this one specific meteor last night? Probably not, so I will assume that I have the only photo documentation of this 10,000,000 year old piece of comet burning up in our atmosphere. Pretty cool. Gone forever in a flash, but mine to keep as a photographic souvenir.

At 2:15 am, we decided to pack it up after about 300 long exposure shots. We got a lot of practice in last night, but most importantly, Chris and I really enjoyed spending time together, soaking in a certain tranquility that only gazing at the heavens can offer.

The Jefferson Memorial at Night

March 26, 2016

Last October we took a family trip to Washington DC, Philadelphia PA and Amish Country. I was able to get most of the typical and some not so typical photos of monuments, museums, street scenes and people.

I had two shots in mind that I really wanted to get while in DC. The Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument at night. I wanted to capture the lights and reflections on the water surrounding these landmarks.

Before we left for the trip, I spent time researching the lay of the land in DC, knowing that I would need to find my way around the very difficult city streets at night to get to the right location near the monuments, not to mention trying to find parking which is also very tough. I studied Google Maps and Street View to determine the right angles and distances across the water to set up the photo I was visualizing.

At 11 pm I arrived at the predetermined location on the North Shore of the Tidal Basin. I looked across the water at the Jefferson Memorial which was about a third of a mile away. I knew this would have to be a long exposure with a telephoto lens which was a challenge because I couldn't bring my tripod on the plane. The camera would have to be perfectly still to let the image slowly burn into the sensor for probably about 30 seconds or so.

In the darkness, I found myself laying on my stomach across the pedestrian walkway at the edge of the water, using a piece of trash to prop up and steady the camera at the right angle, and the glow from my iPhone to see the camera settings.

I was only there for 15 minutes, to get a handful of exposures to pick from. I didn't want to stay any longer than I had to, because DC is not the safest place to be at night when you are alone.

Periodically, people would come strolling down the walkway towards me and each time they would be startled when I announced my presence from the darkness. As they slowly diverted around this weird guy on the ground, they would hear "I'm OK... Sorry."

For me, the adventure of planning and actually pulling off the shot makes looking at the final product more satisfying.