Last Sunset of the Year 2011

It has been a great year for me and I hope everyone else has had a great year as well. Thank you all for checking in and seeing what I have been up to. Happy New Year!

Stranded

Living in California has its benefits, world-class climbing, incredible backpacking, great fishing (fresh and saltwater,) and your choice of landscapes to mention a few. But I want to talk about its surfing, not the epic waves of mavericks or even the great winter surf in San Diego. Nope I just want to talk about how I surf. Yep I surf well I paddle out every so often, maybe once or twice a year. In fact it’s kind of hard to even call me a surfer, none of my surfer friends would. Still I understand a few things about it, the desire to be out there floating looking back in on the world feeling completely detached from everything except the moment. I acquaint that feeling with being in the backcountry of the Sierra Nevada’s. Free to be alive. When it comes to surfing I fall a lot and I don’t mind it, it can be fun. But I hate when your leash comes off or breaks and the board makes it way back to land, it just kind of sucks. I knew just how the owner of this board must have felt as it waited for him to come retrieve it….. Now if I could get my backpack to find its way back to the car without me carrying it back down the trail I wouldn’t mind a broken leash now and then.

Water Drop

Last week I headed out to The Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College to photograph a sculpture by Benjamin Lavender. Benjamin created a piece for a special show there earlier this year and it found a permanent home hanging in the garden. For those that don’t know Benjamin and I are working on a book of his sculptures. The premise is to take these pieces out into the world and photograph them. But some of them have already found homes, like the one at the garden. This makes creating the image easier and harder at the same time. Easier because we don’t have to carry it anywhere and his work can be heavy, harder because I don’t get to choose the location to set the mood/feeling of the photograph. However I am lucky that Benjamin’s work doesn’t need to be in a special setting to be great.
If you want to see the Water Drop take a look at the garden’s website www.thegarden.org for directions and hours of operation.

Old Man on the Beach

I was up early yesterday morning standing on a foggy beach. Why a foggy beach, well to photograph another creation by sculptor Benjamin Lavender. To be honest I was planning on it being a clear morning and photographing under the pier but Mother Nature said “Nope.” So I did what I could and created these. I couldn't help but feel like I was looking at an old man standing motionlessly on the beach.
I can photograph Benjamin’s sculptures against white or black backdrops and they would look great. In fact I have done that many times. But as a photographer that can get boring. So I approached Benjamin with an idea. The idea was to allow me to take his sculptures out to different places and photograph them. He said yes and we decided to collaborate on the creation of a book feature my photographs of his sculptures. We have a few done now and many more to come. So keep your eyes peeled for the next ones.

I swear it was this big!

When an artist releases a creation they are giving the world, or maybe just the few that see it, the license to interpret the work. The viewers can now give their own voice to it. I know this is not news and we do it all the time, we even pay people to do it for us. I wonder how long ago it was that the first person did this. I find myself doing to my own work (I know its my work I should be giving it meaning) especially with images of animals. Take this image above or the Egrets I took here in San Diego, how many different comments can you come up with about this scene? For me the obvious is “I swear the fish was this big” or “Walk this way.” I even like the idea of the two in the back saying “Oh no it’s a dance off!” Humor is all around us and I hope you found at least one thing to laugh at today.

The shadows of Giants

Recently I spent a day near the Giant Redwoods along the coast of Northern California. Early morning fog is the norm for the coast and can make it a bit tough to create a great photograph. But the dense canopy can transport your imagination into a Grimm's fairy tale. The light at the end of trail just might save you from the lurking beast.

Sculptures in the Woods

I just returned from a nice trip to the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. I wanted to check in on the fall colors and get one last warm trip in before the cold weather settles in. As usual it was beautiful and my secluded spot was empty. But I brought something different with me this time. Good friend and incredible sculptor Benjamin Lavender lent me two of his pieces to photograph. It wasn’t the first time I’ve taken his work out to photograph but it was the first time I brought his work to the Sierras.