Pier Cafe

This is the Pier Cafe at Seaport Village in San Diego. I want to be able to tell you something about this place but I couldn't find any information on it, except that the cafe was established in 1980. It does make for a pretty picture though. Enjoy.

The Chinese Pavilion

This Chinese Pavilion is located in Downtown Riverside outside the Main Library. It was build in 1985 to honor the Chinese settlers that came to Riverside in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The night I took this photo a very good friend of mine and his other half had invited us out to dinner in Downtown Riverside. Me being the procrastinator that I am I kept meaning to go downtown and take some evening photographs and just never did it, so that evening was the perfect opportunity.

A City By Night

The second time that I went to San Diego in 1997 I stayed at the house of a friend of my now ex-wife's on Coronado Island. I remember her friend, Katie, picking us up at about 11pm at the San Diego Rail Depot as we had taken the train from Los Angeles to San Diego to go and spend time with her. Katie picked us up and then drove us to her house on Coronado via the San Diego - Coronado Bridge and as we rounded the curve of the bridge I looked across the water and saw the most amazing skyline lit up late at night. Well it's been 12 years in the making, but I always wanted to get back there and take a photograph of that skyline at night and yesterday I finally did. This had been a photograph I had had in my mind since the first time I saw it and it came out way better than I imagined it to. I found the ideal spot at the ferry landing on Coronado and spent the next hour or so just taking photos of the the sight before me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Whitney Sunrise

This photograph was taken at about 7am as the Sun rose above the mountains to the east of us and lit up Mount Whitney into this brilliant orange color. Mount Whitney is 14,505ft high and is the highest peak in the contiguous United States. I've met various people that have climbed Mount Whitney, but I've never felt the urge to do it myself. All that being said, first thing in the morning as the sun lights it up Mount Whitney is pretty spectacular.

Confederates

Alabama Hills are part of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. They were named by prospectors in California that were sympathetic to the Confederates. In the recreation area you will find rock formations that have weathered into arches like the one above. The most popular arch is Mobius Arch (photographed above) and when we arrived there at 6:30am it was already being photographed by a few other photographers. I climbed up onto a big boulder about 10ft in height to get this shot of Lone Pine Peak looking through Mobius Arch.

Frank & Debbie Again!!

So I got some good feedback on the photograph I posted on Monday with the hint of color in it. I also mentioned I'd post another one, so here it is. This is of the old railway boxcar at Rice in eastern Riverside County. I kept a bit more color in this one just to show a difference. Hope you like it.

The Color of Falling Water

20 miles North of Lone Pine is Independence. Independence is the County seat for Inyo County. My trip to Lone Pine also took us into a small area of secluded cabins just west of Independence. These cabins are owned by the US Government and are leased to people on a 20 year lease basis. The area these cabins are situated is in a small woodland with a small creek running through it. It's a very quiet and tranquil area and while we photographed it we even had a visit from some inquisitive deer. This little creek was just beautiful and we spent almost 2 hours wandering around trying for that good photograph. The leaves on the trees had turned a wonderful golden brown color and were falling as we walked around. I wandered a bit more upstream from the rest of the group and found this area where a couple of small streams flowed into the creek. I thought it made for the perfect photograph.

Adding Some Color To Life

Today I decided to revisit a photograph I have already posted but with a change. While away on the photography workshop in Lone Pine I was chatting with a real nice guy called Kurt. Kurt showed me a book of photographs where only the portion of the photo that was important kept it's color and the rest was changed to black & white. I found it fascinating and instantly thought of some photos I had that this technique would work on. So here is the first one, this is the sign in Death Valley, close to Furnace Creek that depicts Sea Level. Let me know what you think and I'll share a couple more with you.

The Parts Of Life

You ever look at a view or a photograph and it makes you think about life? I didn't when I took this one but now I'm looking at it I do and I will explain how I think this represents life.

The colors represent the brightness and differences that people bring to us as they pass though our lives. The water reminds me of the life that comes to us through family and friends, constantly flowing and moving, but always there for us. The Fall season (or Autumn to the Brits) is the changes that happen to us through our lives that comes to us for better and for worse. The mountains in the distance makes me think of the challenges that we will face alone and together in the future. And finally the Sun represents the life and the love that comes from those that are nearest and dearest to us and are always a constant.

Paramount Pictures

As I was standing around in the cold morning air with a like minded group of photographers, looking for that "Great" shot, a thought occurred to me. I looked at my fellow, warmly wrapped photographers and said "You know what this photograph makes me think of?' They looked back and said "A mountain top?" I said "No, it reminds me of the opening scenes of a Paramount Pictures movie." It was just such a wonderful setting and our instructor had done us proud finding the ideal spot for this mornings sunrise jaunt. It was cold (of course I was wearing shorts, nothing new there). It was early and I was tired, but here I was watching Lone Pine Peak light up and bask in the orange glow of the morning sunrise. It was spectacular and beautiful and I can't wait to do it again.