Sunset Cliffs

Last night, my friend Kevin hit me up spontaneously to see if I’d want to go photograph the sunset in Ocean Beach. My initial thoughts were…I’ve got to get cleaned up, I need to pull out the photography equipment, where will I park…and then I said f%^k it and told him “yes.” That he offered to drive was a huge bonus. We went to Sunset Cliffs, lucked out on parking, and just caught the sun as it was sinking below the horizon.



Kevin at work:



With the telephoto lens:



…and the wide-angle:



Just plain old normal lens (albeit without auto-focus anymore!):



We were both pretty happy that we made the time to catch one of nature’s most amazing wonders, and a beautiful reminder of why we Californians pay out the wazoo to live here.



Back in the day (aka the 1980s/90s), pretty much every day I was in San Diego I was at the beach AND in the water. I still have my boogie boards, but they just don’t get any use.



Ah, Spring Break 1986:



Afterwards it was time to eat. The Hob Nob was an easy decision.



Kevin shoots beautiful photos; he poses for dorky ones.



The meatloaf dinner hit the spot (in the right way):



And so did dessert:



The moral of the story: instead of overthinking and being a bundle of negativity, STFU and just do it. You’ll be glad that you did. I know I was.

See more photos at my main website.

Surfing at Tourmaline Beach

I have always loved the water and the beach; one of the few native Californians, I just guess it's in my DNA. Last weekend I was finally able to do a surf shoot. Although I can't surf, I love watching someone catch a wave and ride it, finally diving into the water at the end after being one with that mini force of nature. Jason Coleman was kind enough to allow me to tag along early Sunday morning to document his journey. Although the actual surf shots were not great (which means we need to do it again!), I was pleased with the rest.

As soon as we arrived, Jason was scoping the water seeing where the best place to surf would be.



Then it was back to his vehicle to get his board and gear, returning to the beach for his morning surf.





Like any physical exercise, there's stretching to do...



meditation/prayer...



and then it's off to the waves.



Much of a surfer's time is spent waiting. And waiting. And waiting. When is that perfect wave going to come?



I wouldn't say the waves were perfect, but Jason caught a few decent ones. The mount:



...and the dismount.



We were only out there for about 45 minutes. Next time will be longer...with more actual surf photos!



And hey, breakfast was waiting! Gotta' get back into street clothes and head to town before everyone else wakes up on Sunday for brunch.



More photos of La Jolla at my main website.

The Nude Dude in Huntington Beach

Visiting Huntington Beach for the first time, I tried to see as much as possible during the less than 24 hours that I was there. My photo shoot took up most of my time, so that left very little for exploring. I was definitely in a "shoot now research later" mode. Walking along Highway 1 (aka the Coast Highway), I encountered this surfer statue. Click...click...click...move on.



When I looked him up online upon my return home, it turns out the sculptor, Edmond Shumpert, wanted the statue to have a classical appeal, so he made the surfer completely nude. Did I even notice? Nope. Apparently it has stirred up some controversy, but has remained riding the eternal wave since his installation in 1976. The irony: public nudity was banned here in 2006. Oops.

Plenty of real-life surfing still goes on, as you can see from these early morning sunrise shots that I captured as I walked around the pier.











More Huntington Beach photos at my main website.

Surfin' Saturday

I am always looking to push the limits of my camera (and myself) by trying new things. Firebreathing Ryan let me know last week that he and his friends were going surfing; sounded like the perfect photo shoot for a Saturday morning! Surveying the waves, the first three were not overly ecstatic about the prospects; they didn't quite match the surf report.



Here's the gang getting their boards out of the van. How Spicoli is that?



Even after getting the wet suits on and trudging out the boards, the waves had not greatly improved.



Still, everyone made a valiant effort to ride whatever waves were out there.



This is probably my favorite shot of the bunch.



One of the better waves that Ryan caught.



A triptych of shots that I took consecutively.



After a few hours, everyone came back to shore.



Overall, I was somewhat disappointed by my shoot, and not just because the waves weren't cooperating. Even with a 300mm lens, I wasn't close enough to the action. I was far enough out that the water was up above my waist and I was extremely nervous that my camera would get wet. If I plan on doing much of this type of work, I'll really need to invest in some water-proof camera equipment to get some more interesting (and closer) angles.

See more Daveland surfing photos at my main website.

Diary of a Fiery Photo Shoot

I love a challenge, and when Ryan told me that he was interested in doing a shoot involving fire-breathing, I immediately said "yes!" The sign here says "no smoking"; fortunately, it said nothing about spewing streams of fire.



We both arrived early, and took things easy as we waited for sunset to approach.



People (and animals) were still out enjoying the warm water.



Well, maybe not all that warm.



Ryan showed me some of the ideas and locations he had for shooting out the fire so that I could be prepared. You can't exactly ask someone to "hold that pose" when they are breathing out fire.



Closer to sunset:



Surfers getting the last waves in:



And then it was time.



It is amazing how quickly it gets dark. Ryan's first few breaths allowed me to fiddle around with my settings. There was a lot to coordinate on the camera for something I had never done before.



After a few, I started hitting my groove.



I had to shoot at an ISO that was much higher than I wanted it to be; on the next one, I would definitely begin at least an hour earlier.



The water shots definitely had the most potential for looking cool.



The waves were not exactly what Ryan had hoped for, so it looks like there might be a round two.



Besides, he had run out of 151 for the fire. I'm getting awful flashbacks of Hawaiian Punch and trash cans.

See more Daveland Ocean Beach photos at my main website.