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THE FINAL COUNTDOWN 

It’s the last day of 2018 and I thought it would be fun to look back on the past year and relive some of my favorite travel moments from the year. It’s interesting because I do something similar to this every year and every year my favorite images are almost always different from others. I try not to let emotions play into the selection but it can be difficult. You’ll see what I mean 🙂

I had a fantastic year of travel and so blessed to be able to experience everything that I did. I’m lucky enough to have visited the Europe, Caribbean and of course different parts of America. So let me know what you think. Click on each image to read the original blog post:

drone, mavic pro, california, san diego, fiesta island, birds, selfie, fly, dji, bird, seagulls, practice, socal, water, beach, island, dog island

One of my very first drone images from San Diego. Taken around this time last year, I loved being in Southern California in the winter time. I got my drone at the end of 2017 so I was just practicing flying when I took this image. I really didn’t think much of it until I saw that bird fly below close to the water. With the placement of where I’m sitting and that bird, I love how everything lines up. Definitely expect more drone images from me in 2019. I’m hooked!

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We didn’t spend time at Donner Lake. Just a quick pull over to stretch our legs and check out the scene. At this point I was just excited to be out in nature.

The whole time we were there, this was the only really cloudy day that we got. It even rained a little bit which made slightly nervous about the idea of mosquitos waiting for us on top of the mountain but everything ended up being perfect.

By the way, thank you so much for all the birthday wishes yesterday! I had a fantastic day of just doing whatever I wanted to do. Andrew and I went out to eat dinner and had the best seafood ever. This past weekend, I celebrated with my girlfriends and other than that my birthday has been real low key this year. I kinda almost forgot about it because we just got back from the west coast and as soon as I got back, I started preparing for our next trip. Our next trip is in less than two weeks and I can’t even tell you how excited I am for it. There will definietly be a lot more nature images coming your way.

This past year was one of the best ever. Never would have I imagined that I would write and publish a book, work with the Trust for the National Mall for the Ball for the Mall or even have my work in the gift stores at the National Mall. I was able to see my images in various publications and multiple business’ walls and everything is just so exciting. So thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way or even has taken the time out to view my images. I appreciate you!

My camera settings for this image is F7.1 at 1/320th of a second at ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

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Like I’ve mentioned before, I have quiet a few family members that live in the Northern California area so I’ve been a few times. And when I booked this trip to San Francisco, I wanted to make it a little different. I didn’t want to go to all the tourist attractions (which I did end up going to a few, but not as many as I would have before) but I just wanted to walk around the different neighborhoods and get to know the local side of San Francisco.

But the only shot that I had planned and definitely wanted to capture was this one. Up until recently, I had never seen anything like it. I love how the Bay Bridge is framed by the tall buildings and whenever I look at it, it totally reminds me of rice-a-roni, the San Francisco treat! HAHAHA. Wasn’t there a picture similar to this on the cover? or something like that. I can’t just be making it up.

So if you ever are going to be in the Bay area and want to capture something similar, here are a few tips I learned from capturing it:

  • This shot is located on California St and Stockton St (I think). I heard that going on a Sunday morning is the best time to capture it because it’s going to be far less crowded and you’ll have a better chance of getting a clear shot of a trolley. So this was taken on a Sunday morning. I didn’t actually attempt to go any other morning.
  • Be patient. The website says the trolley runs every 6-15 minutes. If you asked me, it seems like longer. I think I only saw two trolleys while I was there for an hour. Maybe I was there a little too early but still….
  • Bring a long lens. In order to capture this compressed look, a long zoom lens is ideal.
  • Hopefully when you go there will be no cars because you have to stand in the middle of the street to capture it. I’d suggest bring a friend with you so they can lookout if a car is on the way. If not, have you camera settings ready to capture this real quick.

My camera settings for this image is F4.0 at 1/400th of a second at ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.