Photos

I picked up a Canon Digital Rebel xT (350D)  to capture some of the fun around San Diego. These shots are taken simply - with the camera, the 18-55mm kit kens and a tripod. There is very little post-processing of the photos - usually just contrast, brightness, cropping, and sometimes some color balance, hue, saturation; but whenever possible, I try to post the image directly from the camera.

If you'd like high resolution versions of any of these photos then please contact me and I will be happy to email you the full resolution images for free. However, you may use these images for non-commercial purposes only and you should also note the Creative Commons license agreement at the bottom of this page.

Highlights

This is the section where I'll put my favorite photos, for those of you that just want the highlights.

Stitches

Stitching multiple raw photos into one large wide-angle photo. Check out all of them on My Stitches Page.

View of Lane Stadium before the kickoff for the 2008 VT vs. UVA game. Final score: VT - 17 UVA - 14. Go Hokies!!! :)

Photo Blog

Each section includes a few preview shots from the set. Click the photo to expand or click the blue link to see the full set for that trip.

5/20/09 - Mission Bay (It's finally summer)

This is just pure joy ... taking these Mission Bay night photos. There's not much too it. I just setup the tripod, set the camera to auto, focus on a light or something, press the shutter... and then wait 30 seconds. That's it. I admit I'm getting a little liberal with the saturation and lighting in Picasa, and I even used a tint filter on the palm tree background.

I had the camera in 1600 ISO for these, trying to get as much light as possible, but the sacrifice is that they are a bit grainy.

The camera brings out more than is visible to the naked eye. It's a surprise each time in the viewfinder. The colors are there - the camera just magnifies them, dramatically. Still ... gorgeous! And a blast ... fun ... relaxing. Ommm... :)

4/26/09 - Time-Lapse Photography

I wish I had the resources and creativity and whatever else is necessary to put together stuff like this! Wow!!! Well ... hum. Yeah... that's crazy wicked awesome. That might be one of the coolest things I've ever seen on the Internet.

4/9/09 - Desert Trip - 3-day trip to Glamis Dunes and Split Mountains - click here for the entire set

This was an awesome trip, even before I looked at the photos! These night and dune shots just came out phenomenally, and I'm so excited that I just had to post these right now! (I just got back a few hours ago! :)

Sometimes you think you take something, and its going to be awesome (particularly night shots) and they just look fabulous in the camera preview screen. And ... then, well, you know - you get back and put it up on the computer screen and realize its crap... not in focus, or just not what you expected. Well... this time the shots really nailed the sights and the moments.

I don't know too many landscapes that are as beautiful as the desert during a moon-lit night. I mean ... WOW. There's something about the color too. I didn't touch the color on the night shots, or the lighting. It's just perfect. Now... I know they are a little underexposed ... but I didn't mess with them because - well, its night after all! And the camera did its job perfectly and that's exactly how it looked standing right there. Trust me.

And to top that off... how about the dunes during a wind storm? Wow! It looks like the earth is flowing... like ... something surreal, heaven, serenity, peace, Love ... you chose your own description. Ok I played with the color on some of the dunes shots, but not the whitish glowing wind-sand-whipped ones... I just cropped those, that's it! Amazing! Lucky!!!!

Well maybe I'll write more about the trip later... I'm beat.

2/15/09 - Inkopah Truckin' - quick day trip 4-wheelin' - click here for the entire set

Looks like Roscoe is going to need the frame stretcher. Yikes. His tire is not supposed to be rubbing the frame of the vehicle. Hum... what could possibly go wrong?!?

This also includes a shot of us standing in Mexico pretending to climb the fence back into the US. No kidding. That's the real border fence. We climbed over and about 5 minutes later a border patrol helicopter flew over us and ... I'm joking... well, about the helicopter. They could care less. I'm not kidding about the border though - that's it. A barbed-wire fence. Wow.

12/26/08 - Joshua Tree SP - camping, up in the high desert, to down in the valley farmlands - click here for the entire set

Moving down from the mountains to the somewhat warmer high desert. Big cactus ... er trees... whichever. Farming in the desert makes for interesting contrast shots.

12/25/08 - Winter in Big Bear - (Big Bear during a blizzard) - click here for the entire set

I decided that I needed to see what a Southern California blizzard and several feet of snow looks like - in Big Bear, CA. Well... its snowy, cold, white, windy... about what you'd expect. :)

My first time snow-showing - nice! It doesn't look it in the photo, but if not for the snow shoes I'd be stuck pretty deep.

Not much emphasis on the photography on this trip... cold. cold! COLD!

12/15/08 - CraigAt San Diego - Red Craig in San Diego (Laguna Mtns, Sandstone Canyon trip) - click here for the entire set

Photos from a quick trip from the ocean, to the mountains, to the desert - and back - all in 8 hours. Whew. These shots were taken by either myself or Craig with his Nikon D90. I thought my camera was decent but side-by-side compared to photos taken with his and its like standard TV versus High Definition... WOW! I must have one.

(note the last three photos from this set are from Craig's travels in Europe, I didn't take those but they are amazing shots!)

11/30/08 - Thanksgiving trip Home - photos from the home, the family, my nephew and VT - click here for the entire set

Photos of my family, and the star of the show - my nephew Jakob Price. Scenic shots of West Point, VA. And some photos from the VT vs UVA game. Go Hokies!!! :)

10/31/08 - John Bull Trail - photos from the toughest trail in Big Bear - click here for the entire set

Photos of a black diamond trail in Big Bear - the John Bull trail. I made it about 1/2 way before finally turning around the Blazer before any major damage was done. I'll need a lift and a lockers to tackle this trail safely.

10/31/08 - Big Bear - camping on Halloween! - click here for the entire set

Well... this trip was fittingly spooky.

10/11/08 - Coyote Canyon - camping with the big horns! - click here for the entire set

Another great camping and 4x4 trip up to Coyote Canyon, just north of Borrego Springs, CA.

I spent two hours tracking this herd of Big Horn sheep on foot, trying to get a shot... no luck at all... they lost me easily. I was heading back to my truck in disgust and all of the sudden they doubled back and popped up right in front of me! Then they crossed this wash - right in front of me - just strolling along, maybe 100 yards away. It was CRAZY!!!! I couldn't believe how close they were. It's so very rare to see these animals so close. It was amazing.

If you liked those check out the photos from the last trip here.

9/28/08 - Lake Henshaw and Palomar Mtn - its camping season again - woohoo! - click here for the entire set

Lake Henshaw on a clear day - beautiful, stunning. I just couldn't get it in one frame. Here's the stitched wide-angle version.

Also this same trip, camping on Palomar Mtn up above an unusually thick and pervasive marine layer. I mean... it was pea soup all along the coast up to the foothills. It made for a handful of angelic-themed sunset shots, so I wasn't complaining about the fog one bit.

Really... living with the fog for five years now, it doesn't really bother me anymore. I like it now. It's always cool when the fog comes in, and it makes for some crazy sunsets too.

It's starting to get that cool nip in the air even here in sunny SD... feels like its time to start up that woodstove, carve a pumpkin, go see a football game... its camping season again. It's the start of the good "sleeping weather". Those days when you poke your nose out of the tent, and you say ... Ahhhh. Not too hot. Not too cold. This weather is juuussssst right.

Nothing wraps up a long hot summer like the refreshing electric coolness of autumn.  And serve up a little Hokie football on the side, yes sir, with grits and bacon - that's what I talking about. Specifically some VT over Nebraska football. Wooohooo!!! Good stuff. Gig'em Hokies. :)

8/17/08 - Mission Bay Night2 - nights shots on the water. - click here for the entire set

Not quite as impressive as a week ago, but still fun. I missed the light at dusk. The key to night shots seems to be getting the good light - around 30-60 minutes after sunset. You still get the night effect of the lights, the reflections, etc; but you also get a nice warm dusky glow. These were taken well over an hour after sunset, so the color is all reflection of the city lights. Which is well... different I guess - urban. :)

Another gotcha is to make sure your subject doesn't move over the duration of the 30sec exposure. Those sailboats just aren't steady enough to come out sharp. Maybe if I went out there at like 4am or something... hum. :)

Still... pretty cool, fun, and another beautiful night on the Bay.

8/10/08 - Mission Bay Night - nights shots on the water. - click here for the entire set

Hanging out on Mission Bay (Vacation Island) at a bonfire. I didn't even photograph the bonfire - ???? I don't know why.

Maybe because I really like to shoot the water and bridges down there. I didn't do the fireworks much favor, but this one bridge came out even better than it looked in person. Night photography is like that - things look even better in the camera than the naked eye. I'm not sure why I don't shoot more at night. I can't believe I haven't shot anything in two months.

Yes that is Sea World in the background (the tree-like tower with lights like streamers). Sea World shoots off fireworks every night during the summer at exactly 9:53pm. That's pretty cool if you like fireworks. The best part I think is the sounds they make, especially listening to them several miles up the hill at Kate Sessions park. It sounds like ships battling, canons firing in the distance; the flashes of light, the water, the echoes ... you've got to be there I guess.

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Photos by Chalcyst.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.