Desert boondoggle...

Todd and I had been talking all week about getting together to do some photography. We decided to connect up today and shoot some later evening and sunset shots of some ghost towns. We ended up going North of California City and did some exploring. The weather, although extremely hot, was pretty good and it gave us some incredible skies. We ultimately ended up in this little ghost/real town near Randsburg Mojave. It was a really amazing place that was pretty well deserted. We did run into a couple of people that appeared to be locals and they were very friendly. The last time I had been in that area was with Denise and the kids and there were about 10k people on dirt bikes. It was really kind of neat to see the place really quiet.

Todd just recently switch from Nikon to Canon gear and it was (I think) his first time really doing a complete boondoggle shot. His gear is REALLY nice and his selection of glass is pretty amazing too. I am really looking forward to what he was able to capture too! Anyway it was a lot of fun and very relaxing and other than the heat it was a really great time!

I just uploaded selects from the trip here!

Earlier in the day Denise, Deanna, and I ran into Bakersfield and did some looking around at new travel trailers. It is generally pretty hard to do that will all the kids and since I took the day off and Devin and Desirae were still in school we took the opportunity to give it a try. We did end up finding a REALLY nice lite trailer that would work perfectly for us. I don’t know if it is something that we are going to do - but it is definitely something we are going to consider!

Update: I have posted pictures here!

Weekend closing out...

Well we had a pretty good weekend and had a lot of fun. Desirae even wanted to do a photo shoot so we did something with a school theme. Denise helped quite a bit to keep her focused and natural. The rest of the time - everyone pretty much played the new Wii. I tell you though - I didn't realize just how physical a video game could be. Devin and Desirae are really working the butts off with that thing. So we are getting ready to start a new week and hopefully it will be a good one. I am also on tap for jury duty so I might end up having to do that this week too - but I doubt it...

OBTW - last year - that look Desirae has - is basically how homework time went - most of the time... Hopefully not this year...

Lookout behind you...

Okay so the I was on the railroad tracks taking a shot when I noticed this green light on the track. I thought to myself, "Hmmm, that's kind of odd, I wonder why there is that green light on the signal". So I decided to look behind me and guess what - a train was coming! Anyway so I moved off the track (figured that was probably a good move) and proceeded to make some shots as it went by. It was pretty cool, but a little too close too...

Anyway I wanted to go to Santa Barbara to him Samys and to make some beach images. Well no one else really wanted to go and I was feeling restless so I just went by myself. It was a pretty LONG trip but stopping to take photographs on the way back was REALLY cool! The lighting was really beautiful on the way back so I tried to stop every place I could to capture some interesting scenes.

The kids finished the first week of school and everything seems to be going well. Both Devin and Desirae really seem to like their new classes. The school has completely changed their program. They have done really poorly in previous tests and an outside advisor is living at the school and helping them (watching them like a hawk) implement the new and improved program. Denise and I are really hopefully that this just might be the change that is need to make the school better.

Deanna's Birthday

Today was Deanna’s 2nd birthday! We did this really low key and no one came over. That doesn’t mean that we didn’t have a good time though. The kids had picked out presents for her and we gave those too her early in the day so she would have a chance to play with them. Denise made a nice birthday cake that you can see in the picture and everyone enjoyed it. Deanna basically just ate the frosting though!

Tomorrow is the first day of school for the kids. They are really excited about going back and I think it is going to go well. Denise is going to take the kids to school tomorrow, but Desirae is really looking forward to riding the bus. I still can’t figure out why the kids like the bus because I always hated riding the bus.

Getting out...

I had the chance to get out and make some photographs the other day. It was really wonderful to get out and catch some really wonderful like as well as to visit a place I have never been to before. It ended up making for a very long day and I didn't get home until well after midnight - not exactly the smartest thing to do on a work day - but it was very therapeutic.

I also ran across this scene at work today. California is yet again in a power alert and everyone had turned off lights that didn't really need to be on. I thought the lighting down the hall way with the door and side lighting looking really amazing. For some reason I had brought my camera stuff into work so I was able to setup a tripod and make hte shot.

Oh - and for the first week back at work??? Let me just say I am REALLY glad that tomorrow is Friday...

Final walk...

Denise took the kids for one final walk on the dunes at Pacific Dunes Ranch the new place we were staying. The idea was that she would keep them occupied while I tore down the camp site and loaded up the trailer. It worked out pretty good and I even had an opportunity to photography them playing on the dunes. As it turned out the dunes went on FOREVER so they didn't make it back to the Ocean but the kids had a blast playing in the sand. We might have to consider going back to this place again in the future. It is a bit off the beaten path - but it was pretty cool. The services were nicer at Pismo Coast Village but it wasn't bad either!

Oh, the funny part about the photo above is that everyone was supposed to be following Denise - not going the other way!

The Sun is setting...

The sun has set on our final day at Pismo. Tomorrow (Sunday) we will be heading back home from our nice long week at the beach. We originally had intended to stay only until Saturday, but with all the changes to the schedule with the kids we found another RV Park that had an opening and just moved camp there for a night. That gave us another day and the opportunity to take the kids to the beach for a couple of hours. So we walked in the water and built sand castles. All in all it was a of fun - with the only exception being the sunburn that we all ended up getting (though I think mine was the worse).

When we got back to the park Desirae and I took a jaunt out looking for some interesting photographic opportunities. One of the keepers from the afternoon was the sunset over the dunes. Desirae had a lot of fun being my little photo assistant! We also made this interesting shot of a railroad track that I thought looked very interesting earlier in the day, so we returned when the lighting was a bit better. She actually took this picture while I held a flag to block the sunlight from hitting the lens.

Week flying by...

Man this week feels like it is just flying by! It is hard to believe that it is Thursday already. We have been having a lot of fun and doing a lot of different things. We have gone out to dinner, walked along the beach, make a trip to Santa Barbara, Solvang, and exploring! We have also shot A LOT of pictures. In the evenings I try to process the images and upload the selects which at times is hard to do. So far though the beach images are selling VERY well. I have had my best day ever and if you check ShutterStock you can see that my long standing "Family in Leaves" image has been knocked from the number 1 spot by an image I uploaded yesterday...

We had a really great shoot today after we went out to dinner for Denise's birthday (it's actually tomorrow but the logistics made today a better day). It was a great time and we had a lot of fun (at dinner and on the beach). I did blow a few (a lot) of the shots because I was trying to shoot with a LONG lens (340mm) with a very low shutter-speed (1/30) not one of my better ideas - but we did get some really neat stuff. This was one of them that I thought was really nice. Not sure if it will make good stock - but I really like the image.

Well I am beat and I have more images to go through...

At the beach...

Well, we finally made it to Pismo Beach! We decided to leave on Saturday and make a stop over at Bakersfield. Denise found this place called Orange Grove RV Park that was pretty nice with good facilities. That gave us the opportunity to do some running around in Bakersfield and be an hour closer to Pismo. On Sunday we packed up and headed out. The trip to Pismo was pretty uneventful and we arrived a little bit early!

It was kind of funny with the check in because first, a guy on a Segway was directing traffic into the park. Second they put is in the one place we DIDN’T want to end up. Now the funny this is they gave us the perfect spot. The lot they gave us is REALLY large and is right next to the playground. It is also on the edge of the park so there is block walls right behind us preventing another escape possibility for Deanna.

It is just really great being here. It would be nice if Devin and Desirae could be here too but I am sure they are having a bunch of fun at Nana and Max’s place!

We did take a trip down to Santa Barbara on Monday to eat at Anderson’s Pea Soup and to go by Samy’s Camera. I was considering renting a telephoto lens but I changed my mind and bought a tele-converter for my lens. It get’s me in the same range without having to return it in a few days. I think in the future though renting some nice glass would be a good idea. For the shots I have planned the converter should work fine.

We are still trying to figure out what we are going to do tomorrow. I am leaning toward staying around the Pismo but there is a chance we might head to a farmer’s market they are having in Paso Robles but I am not sure. We are also toying around the idea of going to the Hearst Castle. I guess we’ll just have to play it by ear and see what we end up doing!