Tag Archives: California

#52weekproject: Week 25 – Anthony and Celine get Married

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Tuan and Che

Week 25:  Anthony and Celine get Married (and Subsequently Photobombed in Yosemite)

Taken on Saturday, October 4th, 2014, in Yosemite National Park near the Swinging Bridge.

In the latter part of my vacation week this fall, I just happened to meet up with my cousin Anthony (aka Tuan), and his awesome and beautiful (very soon to be) wife, Celine (aka Che) for a “casual” get together with a bunch of family and friends. Not sure what the occasion was, but they seemed to be dressed up and celebrating something (okay, so it was their wedding). They had asked me if I would do them the great honor of taking photos for them, which I gladly obliged.

I’m not a wedding photography, although, but by this time, I have shot a handful of weddings (maybe this is my 7th?). My wedding photography has really been for close friends and family on destination weddings. So it combined my 2 favorite things… people I love, and the people they love. And travel. And photography. So, 4 favorite things.

Anyway, back to the photo… After the ceremony at Sentinel Beach, we had an awesome reception at the lodge, and we ended up taking some group photos with all the friends and family over by the Swinging Bridge area. As I fiddled with some settings to take this picture, their niece decided to pop in the frame and see what was going on.

Here are a few more from the day…

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#52WeekProject: Week 24a – Trillium Falls

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A Trilli, a trilli, a trilli… Trillium Falls

52WP-W24 Trillium Falls

 

Taken Tuesday, September 30th, 2014.

After camping in Crater Lake with my friends, Hage and Jared, we headed to Eugene, OR, where I picked up my rental car, and had a bite to eat from a food cart at Ninkasi Brewery. I happened to leave Eugene later than intended, which found me driving on the beautiful Redwood Highway after dark. There’s a section of US 199 (between Cave Junction, where i filled up on gas, and Crescent City) that is just beautiful, and you can tell even driving after dark. With the road weaving through the groves of trees, you are just in awe of the towering trees around you, while trying not to go careening into them around curves at 45 mph.

Elk Prairie & Redwoods National Park


In any case, fast forward a couple days to Tuesday, September 30th, and I’m camping near Orick, CA at the Gold Bluffs Beach Campground. It’s in the Elk Prairie area of Redwoods National Park (where you’ll find elk just wandering around, and possibly blocking the dirt road leading you back to your campsite). While I spent a lot of my time trying to take time lapses on the beach, I did get a chance to hike a bit and take a few photos.

Nearby my campsite, there were hiking trails that allow you to hike through the tallest trees in the world, through green and lush landscapes (including an beautiful and aptly named area called Fern Canyon). Here is a photo from one of those hikes, a short 2 mile loop called Trillium Falls. Unfortunately, the water flow was a little low during this time of year, but it was really quite stunning watching the fall leaves fall then there was a strong enough gust of wind to blow through the trees.

I used an ND filter to make this a long exposure, and I would have loved to stack my polarized filter on as well to cut down on the glare off of the rocks and leaves (it really does make a difference), but at that moment, it was stuck screwed onto another filter and I spent a good 15 minutes trying to unstick it like it was working with a jar of spaghetti sauce. Anyway, this turned out pretty good without it, but you know, it could be better.

Polarizing Filter

Here’s another angle of the falls with a polarizing filter. Notice the reduced glare on the foliage. It definitely changes the dynamic of the image.

Trillium 2 w polarizer

 

 

Oh… and here’s a 3 frame animated gif!

 

JLE_9920

#52weekproject: Week 24: Moonset over the Pacific

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52WP-W24 Gold Bluffs Moonset

 

 

Taken on Tuesday, September 30, 2014, while camping at Gold Bluffs Beach Campground (near Orick, CA, in the Redwoods National Park).

 

This is one of the frames I took while attempting a timelapse of the milky way over the ocean. Using an iphone app called The Photographer’s Ephemeris, I was able to plan ahead and figure out where and when the moon would be setting. I took a walk down the beach from my campsite to where I had eaten breakfast on a log earlier that day. That spot was key since it gave me a place to hang out while I waited for my timelapse to run, and I thought would be foreground for a few pictures. The key to nice milky way shots is to have really dark and clear skies. Which means, being far away from any city lights or any light pollution, no moon, and low humidity. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the weather was pretty warm, and humid, so the Milky Way was not super bright, but it was definitely there. (Ideally, it’s best when the weather is colder and the atmosphere can’t hold much moisture, but then you have to deal with battery issues, and trying to stay warm, but I digress.)

I’m pretty happy with this photo, but would have liked to have spent more time there, since I only had a few hours to work with. (I was only up until around 2am since the following morning I needed to pack up and leave my campsite before 8am so I could drive 9 hours to Fresno to meet up with my brother and sister.)

 

Also, here’s a photo of me setting up this photo:

52WP-W24 Gold Bluffs Moonset bts

Big Sur Timelapse

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So after Christmas with my family in San Jose, California, I rented a car, and drove down the coast to spend time with my friends in Los Angeles for New Years. My plan was to camp for a night in Big Sur, and do some timelapse photos, but with everyone being on vacation and the weather being super nice, all of the campsites ended up being booked before I got there.

I didn’t get to spend much time in Big Sur, since the sun was starting to set by the time I got there, so I just found an area I could pull over, and hike around a bit. I set up my camera and started shooting, but after the sun set, the air cooled, and the fog and moisture seemed to literally, come out of thin air. So, in my mind, I thought I wasn’t going to get really great photos of the sky since it was starting to get foggy, so I ended up skedaddling after about an hour and a half to find a hotel.

Anyway, after checking my photos, it turns out I didn’t end up with enough shots to make a real long timelapse, but I decided to put it together anyway and make it more like a fast moving slideshow.

But I guess it’s a learning experience. Just another reason for me to return to the West Coast sometime, and plan on spending more time out there!

That’s it for now!

P.s. Be sure to watch it in HD for full effect.