southern California

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If you know me, you know I’m a sucker for cute, cuddly things. So obviously, I had to spend some time at La Jolla Cove while I was out in San Diego. This image was captured early morning while I was out shooting sunrise with Andrew and Frankie. As soon as I saw the seals, I squealed and yelled out that I had to get closer. Andrew, who is always looking out for me, told me that I can’t get too close but I didn’t listen. I pretty much hopped the wall and walked over to seals as fast as I could. Obviously I didn’t want to disturb them so I threw on my 70-200mm lens and got as close as I could without them noticing.

I love that little guy in the middle. Doesn’t it look like he’s smiling? It’s like a dog pile that I wish I were a part of. There were other seals all along the rocks but this group really made me happy. You know what though, one of my friends told me that there are times when there aren’t any seals here? Is that true? I’m grateful that I’ve never witnessed that. I always look forward to the seals whenever I’m in the area.

One last thing, this Thursday I’ll be a part of a travel writing panel at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland. If you’re free, I’d love for you to attend. I’ll be there with my friends, Katie Bianco, author of 100 Things to do in Washington, DC Before you Die and Jennifer Barger who has worked with National Geographic, Traveler, etc as we discuss our experiences about writing and photographing the District. I will be talking about Snap DC.

Click here for the details.

My camera settings for the seal image is F7.1 at 1/200th sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm.

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Just a mile away from where we stayed in Mission Beach was Belmont Park. It was fun because everytime we drove home, it was the landmark where we knew we were almost there. And traveling with a toddler, he definietly made sure we all saw it each time we drove past. For the two weeks that we were there, we always said that we would go, but never ended up making it. Oh well, there will definietly be a next time!

One of those days that we were driving home, I was thinking about interesting places I could fly my drone. I don’t think you understand, I really became drone obsessed while I was away. So as we drove past the park, it struck me that flying over Belmont Park would probably be interesting. I envisioned a really cool lines from the rollercoaster and had no idea what else they had in the park. I just knew there was a lot and that it was big. I also knew that I wanted to do it early morning so that there would be no visitors or anything in the park just in case. So the very next morning, I woke up, hopped on a Bird Scooter and scooted my way down to the park. I went across the street to Mission Bay so I had plenty of room to take off and land but still close enough to fly.

It just so happened to be one of the only foggy mornings that we were there. I was able to capture some cool images but it really wasn’t what I was looking for. I figured I could go back on another day when the sky was a bit better so I hopped back on the scooter to go across the street to check out what it looked like on the beach. As soon as I got to the beach, the skies cleared up and I was able to capture what I had envisioned.

I love the perspective and all the cool colors and shapes. Now this really makes me wish we were able to check the park out. I love rollercoasters and fast rides.

My camera settings for this image is F2.2 at 1/100th sec and ISO 102 with my DJI Mavic Pro.

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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!

Click here to read more

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Even though this is technically a vacation, Andrew and I have brought everything we need to continue working while we’re on the west coast. We have our laptop computers and I have all my camera equipment so our work life can carry on as usual. I still plan on waking up everyday for sunrise, which is super easy considering I’m still on east coast time. But I’m even more excited for sunsets everyday. They should be phenomenal here on the west.

So when I heard that there was going to be a super moon on new year’s day, I couldn’t have been more excited to be able to capture it in California. The morning started off foggy, but as the day went on it seemed like the clouds were clearing for a beautiful moonrise. Of course, that all changed once I arrived to my location in Coronado. All the clouds came back! I was about to call it quits after 20 minutes of not seeing the moon. I figured the clouds were too thick to see anything but I’m so glad we stayed. I got a couple of images with the skyline and the moon but it wasn’t until we started heading back to the car where I found my inspiration. This is what makes me happy. Seeing a whole group of people doing what they love. Even on a holiday. Even when the conditions aren’t ideal, everyone was still happy to be out photographing the night’s sky.

The best part about capturing the super moon this time around was that it wasn’t freezing cold! I don’t know about you, but I always associate super moons with the cold. So here it is, a super moon shot that was captured without any gloves on 🙂 Afterwards we grabbed a pizza in Gas Lamp. Perfect way to end our New Years Day! (New Year’s diet? What’s that?)

My camera settings for this image is 1.6 seconds at F/4 and ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and my 28-70mm lens.

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I took so many pictures on this road trip. There are so many beautiful sights in this country. It’s a little difficult to figure out where to really begin. So, here’s one of the major highlights that happened at the very end of our trip when we arrived in San Diego, California. Before leaving on our road trip, we had a couple of activities in mind for San Diego. That all went out the window as soon as we arrived. We were so tired from the travels that our main objective was to just ‘chill’. No plans, nothing to do but relax and enjoy the beach town. Our first stop on the only full day that we were there was to a farmers market to pick up some breakfast. The farmers markets change locations everyday so luckily we were there for the one in La Jolla. The food is always so good at these farmers markets since they’re so fresh. I loved it. Green juice was callin’ my name.

Once we were full, we walked over to La Jolla Cove in hopes to just sit on the beach and lay out. That too went out the window once we saw the seals and sea lions hanging out on the rocks. There must of be at least 20 of them! Daddy sea lions, Mama sea lions, and the cutest of them all- BABY SEA LIONS!!!! OMG we were freaking out. I’d never seen so many of them at one time.  What started out as a casual walk around the cove ended up being 3 hours with these animals. I loved every minute of it. It was so fun to just watch them sleep, fight, play, and walk around. I’m not sure who squealed more, the sea lions or me.

Stay classy, San Diego.