California Love

I've had a lot of mixed feelings the last few weeks.  So take a look at these California love based pictures.  On film.  As they should be.  Courtesy of my Olympus OM-2n.

Pizza at the Beach

I noticed today that I’ve only posted here once this whole month.  That’s a problem, especially if you never visit my flickr page.  I need to do a better job of spreading the wealth between flickr and here.  

This is one more from Venice Beach.  There are so many shops along the boardwalk.  If you want some sunglasses, Venice Beach is the place to go.



This isn't the pizza served there, but is the pizza served at a place at Huntington Beach.  It was good.



Both film.  Both Olympus OM-2n.

Venice Beach

What a great Memorial Day weekend.  Here are some highlights from Venice Beach.  That place is so cool.  I could easily spend all day there wandering around and people watching.


This Asian kid was tearing up the skate park.  He was one of the better skaters there while we were watching.




This kid in the black was probably the best overall while we were there.  He caught some huge air.




What in the world are these things?  This guy was flying around the pool thing on these.  He was damn good on these things.




Mini skater guy...


There was a power lifting competition going on over at Muscle Beach.  This guy squatted a little over 980 lbs!  Holy cow!


This kid was dancing for some girls.  Every time his parents tried to move him along he’d freak out and eventually run back and dance for them some more.


And of course..  Chihuahua in a bag with a hat!

Splash!

I took this last Friday when I went down to the beach after work.  After this week, I probably need to do that again.  And I’m sure you have questions.  Did I get wet? Yes.  Did I clean my camera and lens really well?  Yes, always after the beach.  Did I fall in the ocean?  No, not yet, and hopefully never do.  Do I love going to the beach?  ¡Absolutamente!

There’s something I really like about square photographs.  They’re great.  But what’s the deal with “standard” size photo frames?  If you want a square frame, you won’t be able to get it at Hobby Lobby unless you build a custom frame.  You can order them online, but most of the websites I’ve seen that have them for sale don’t have good preview pictures of the wood.  For all I know I’m getting some cheap frame made out of plywood.  And how is their quality control?  Most of the frames I see in stores have defects; are these online stores the same way?

I guess I’ll figure out a way around it if I ever want to hang a square photo.  I think you’ll be seeing more natively square photos soon though… wink wink

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:04:16 5:57 PM
Exposure time	1/80 sec
Focal length	10mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Beach Trails

Here’s my first moderately successful attempt at star trails!  I took this in Florida in 2008, so it’s an oldie.  I don’t do enough night photography.  I love long exposures so night photography seems like something I’d like to do, but I just don’t enough.  Maybe soon I’ll do more; I’ve got some ideas in mind.  This was 573 seconds by the way; around 9.5 minutes.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2008:05:29 9:51 PM
Exposure time	573 sec
Focal length	18mm
F-Stop	f/6.3
ISO speed	ISO-800
Exposure Bias	0

Small Feet

I took my first mid-week-after-work trip to the beach last week.  It was awesome; I definitely am going to have to do that more often.  How can I resist?  Corona Del Mar (my favorite) was the destination, and it did not disappoint.  I only had my 50mm lens with me, but that was OK because it got me thinking about different kinds of compositions.  Here’s the first of a few I liked.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:04:07 6:43 PM
Exposure time	1/60 sec
Focal length	50mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Stop Motion

I really dig this photo.  I took a few similar ones but this one stood out because of the water movement in the background.  Of all the pictures I took this was the only one where the water got high enough to run down the rocks in the back.  I took this at sundown at the Little Corona part of Corona Del Mar Beach (my favorite!), so I was able to get this sweet two second exposure without any filters.

It amazes me how many times I’ve been here and had someone ask what I’m taking pictures of, or why I’m taking pictures.  It happens elsewhere too, but these times have been the most recent.  I never know exactly how to respond because I don’t want to sound like a jerk and say ‘uhh, because I like taking pictures’ so I usually manage some variation that comes off in a pleasant manner.  I should start making up stories about why I’m taking pictures; the more outrageous the better.  I’ll let you know how that goes, but until then, enjoy this!

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:02:13 5:47PM
Exposure time	2 sec
Focal length	50mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Life Saver

Saving lives is serious business.  This life saving flotation device is but a small tool utilized by the Seal Beach Life Guards in Orange County.  These guys have a lot of saving to do since Seal Beach has the second longest wooden pier in California (just ignore the fact that pier length is not necessarily indicative of overall beach size or the number of people at the beach on a given day who may or may not need saving).

Seal Beach is pretty cool.  Aside from the sweet pier, there’s this restaurant a couple blocks from the beach called Walt’s Wharf, and they serve some excellent seafood.  If you’re ever within 20 miles or so, I’d suggest going there for lunch, or maybe dinner but you might want to make a reservation if it’s a weekend.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:01:17 11:01
Exposure time	1/200 sec
Focal length	22mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

*This post was sponsored by the City of Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce.*

Little Corona's Rocks

Well I caught some flak from my aunt this weekend for not posting enough photos from California, so, by popular demand, here is another photograph from California!  I got a 10-stop neutral density filter for Christmas and this is exactly what I wanted it for.  This type of filter is very dark and reduces the amount of light that gets through the lens to the camera’s sensor, allowing for long exposures during the day.  The results, as seen below, are pretty cool when photographing moving water.  I took this at Little Corona Beach, which is part of the larger Corona Del Mar Beach in Orange County.  Corona Del Mar is quickly becoming my favorite; I actually went there again this weekend and did some shooting (this photo is about a month old).  There are lots of pretty rocks and tide pools, so there are plenty of subjects for photos.  I took this one near sunset, so I got a lot of warm sunsetty colors.

As you can see from the EXIF info below, this was a 30 second exposure.  I did some editing in Photoshop to get the colors and a few other things exactly how I wanted them.  This was really my first attempt at shooting with this filter and I’m pretty happy with the results.

Exif Information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2010:01:22 15:33
Exposure time	30 sec
Focal length	10mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Beach Dune

I think it’s time to go back to the beach.  It’s warming up out here (it never really got cold to be honest, although one evening a woman in a fur coat angrily asked me if I was cold because I was wearing a t-shirt.  It was probably around 55 degrees, and I was not, in fact, cold.) and there are great photo opportunities at the west coast beaches; especially the Orange County beaches.  This picture was not taken out here though; I took this one a couple years ago in Florida.  I described the beautiful Gulf Coast beaches in earlier posts here and here, so I’ll spare you another long winded description, but I really love this place.  Did I mention three generations of Jewell’s vacation at Long Boat Key?

Eventually I’d like to be able to look back at this blog and see an evolution of my photography.  You can already do this somewhat, but when I go around posting 2 year old photos here and there, it can be somewhat difficult.  I can see a slight evolution in my post processing style, so that is nice, although some of my earlier work isn’t too far off from my current stuff.  I actually like this though, because my earlier work wasn’t usually edited too strongly.  How much evolution can there be though; this site isn’t even a year old yet.  I can definitely see an evolution when I look at some of my older unpublished photographs, and I can happily say, I’m getting better.  I can also say though that I’m still trying new things and not getting complacent in a style I’m familiar with.  At least I think so anyway.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2008:05:29 15:24
Exposure time	1/2500 sec
Focal length	18mm
F-Stop	f/3.5
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	0

Windansea and Rocks

I feel like the majority of my readers are probably in a cold place right now so I thought I’d share a little of the southern California warmth. I took a little drive down to San Diego not long ago to visit a friend and stopped at this beach before meeting up with him. I was looking for somewhere pretty that wouldn’t be crowded and based on descriptions on the internet, this beach looked good. It’s called Windansea Beach. I think that’s an appropriate name as there was wind and there was a sea, and then there was a beach. There were numerous rock formations on the beach and extending into the ocean, which on occasion made for some spectacular sights when large waves crashed into them.

Between the beach and the deeper water were some gnarly rocks but since the surf was up the local surfers were stoked and most certainly hanging ten while hitting the surf. I read online that the local surfers would act totally bogus towards anyone who wasn’t a local and tried to catch a wave without waiting their turn.

OK, that was ridiculous, but I believe everything I said was true. This beach was very pretty, as was the rest of San Diego. I’ve found that I really like these beaches with rocks around them for pictures, but I’d prefer a classic sand beach if I wanted to get in and go swimming. This photograph is a single exposure with some light editing in post.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2009:11:14 9:59
Exposure time	1/500 sec
Focal length	50mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure Bias	-1

Calm Waters

Here is another photograph I took in Florida last summer.  I took this one in the evening near sundown, so the colors are a bit different than the last one I posted from Florida.  The water was extremely calm for pretty much the whole week we were out there.  Absolutely beautiful the whole time!

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Crystal Clear Waters

A little over a year ago I took a trip to Florida with my brother and cousin.  We went to a place called Longboat Key, near Sarasota.  My brother and I went there a few times when we were younger with my dad and grandparents, and it was the same place my grandparents took my dad and aunts when they were kids!  My mom even stayed at the same place a few weeks before we went down there.  It's a great place; not crowded, and not overly developed.

This photo shows the typical day while we were there; sunny and hot.  Luckily, the water was great; clear and nearly the perfect temperature.  One really cool thing about this beach is that there is a sand bar about 20 feet into the ocean.  You walk into the water and after a short descent on rough ground, it gets shallow and sandy.  It's really cool being able to walk into the ocean and be a long way from the shore but still standing.