west coast

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Before leaving on this trip, there were a list of things that I definietly wanted to do while in San Diego (minus photography – that’s a given matter what). Fish tacos, carne asada fries, and a dog beach. Good list, huh? Well, the first two things were scratched off the list the moment we arrived in California but being here for 2 weeks, I was like ‘oh we have time to go to the dog beach. We have can go whenever.’

Now that it is Monday and our last week here, I’m so glad we accidentally stumbled on to the dog beach at Ocean Beach. I took this image as soon as we parked the car and I stepped out. I thought it was so cool to see the palm trees look so small but the people who were walking along the trail look so big. It’s a pretty cool play on perspective and I think the connection between the adult and child is really sweet. As soon as I captured this moment, it reminded me of Max Wanger. He does a lot with couples and huge skies. This image for example.

Anyways, if you find yourself with a dog in San Diego, check out the dog beach at OB. Frankie loved it! At first he didn’t really know what was going on. I don’t think he’s been to a beach that big before. But once he started sniffing a few dog butts, he was in puppy heaven! A good time for dogs and dog parents all at once 🙂

Oh and if you’re not following Frankie on instagram, you should. He’s been posting pics of his California vacation too.

My camera settings for this image F4.0 at 1/800th of a second and ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

All photos available for print and licensing >

Greetings from San Diego! and Happy New Year! This is my first official blog post of 2018. The first two were prescheduled in 2017. Kinda sneaky, eh? LOL.

So far 2018 has been nothing short of beautiful. I’m currently sitting on the front porch of our Airbnb cottage, listening to water flowing from a water fountain and staring at some beautiful oranges on our orange tree. Not sure how it could get any better than this. Since arriving, Andrew, Frankie and I have just been settling into our new environment. We went to the farmers market to pick up some fresh produce and just been sightseeing and getting to know the area a little better. We’re staying in North Park and loving every minute of it. Every morning we’ve been here has been incredibly foggy. Foggy but so fun and exciting! By mid-morning everything clears up and it’s back to enjoying the sunny skies.

I took this image yesterday in La Jolla at Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier. It was taken about an hour after sunrise and after the fog lifted from the beach. My favorite part of this image is that little hit of sun glow on the wood. To be honest, I’m not sure how busy this place gets at sunrise but somehow I feel lucky to have been the only one there. Well, me and this seagull of course.

I can’t wait to explore San Diego even more with my camera. So if you have any photo recommendations for me, let me know! Also food recommendations. I’ve already had my first official fish taco as my first meal when we arrived but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be my last 🙂

The camera settings for this image is 1/200th of a second at F5.6 and ISO 200 with my Sony a7II and 28-70mm lens.

All photos available for print and licensing >

Rarely do I shoot night time images. I love them for the same reasons as I love shooting sunrise. It’s the time of day that you’re usually by yourself. You feel the freedom to just wonder (with a good flashlight). Everything is usually so still and quite. But there’s one good reason that I don’t shoot it that often. It’s because I’m such a morning person now that staying up late is so difficult for me. LOL. For the same reasons of why I hear people who never shoot sunrise, is the same reason why I hardly shoot nigh time. Especially the time of night where you can really see the stars shining bright, usually around 2 or 3am. Man, oh man do I wish you could sleep all during the day, wake up in time for sunset and stay up all night til sunrise and be able to function like a normal human being that way. In other words, why can’t the world just revolve around my photography schedule? Just kidding. Not really, but kind of.

This was shot in Davenport, California at Shark Fin Cove. A beautiful location in the middle of the night or during the day. Now that Andrew and I are on our trip together, I’m hoping to shoot some more night time images. Nothing is guaranteed because we are planning on some cool stuff during the day too. Hopefully I can squeeze in a cat nap so we can take some night images like this. Nothing like sitting in the middle of no where with a whole bunch of stars lighting your path.

Since I shot this on a Rokinon 14mm lens, I am not able to see what my aperture setting was. I’m assuming it was as wide as I could get it at 2.8 but I know for sure that it was 8 seconds long at ISO 2000.

In alphabetical order of how I named the digital files, I present to you my personal favorite images of 2013!

These may not be everyone’s favorites but when I think back on 2013, these are the images I think of. Comparing my images from this year to last year, I can really tell that I’ve grown as a photographer. My style has become more distinct and clean looking.

I’ve also decided to divide up the 10 images into 2 blog posts. For no other reason than making it more suspenseful so you’ll have to wait til tomorrow to see the rest of the images 🙂

Hope you enjoy! and Happy New Year!

four mile beach, santa cruz, water, ocean, sunrise, california, cali, west coast, united states, usa,

In March, I traveled to Northern California to practice some of my water scenes. This was a big trip for me because of two reasons. 1. It was the first time I ever traveled by myself. 2. I spent most of the time practicing waterscapes and working more on my post processing.
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capitol, reflection, sunset, east capitol street, east side, washington dc, capital,

This was the first I was ever allowed to use my tripod at the Capitol. I think it may be because this image was taken in August and congress is out of session then. But either way, I was super happy to be able to use it 🙂
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cherry blossoms, photographers, hdr, runners, tidal basin, washington dc,

The cherry blossoms are always a beautiful time of the year in DC. What you may or may not know that it’s also one of the craziest times of the year too. This image isn’t even half of it.
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macro, cherry blossoms, close up, japanese, sakura, rain drops,

I love this image of the cherry blossoms close up. I think the rain makes it look so delicate and the colors from the leaves really pop.
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shenandoah, leaves, trees, sun, autumn, virginia, mountains, travel,

This image taught me a big lesson. I can take pictures all times of the day. Not just sunrise and sunset.
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