San Diego Nature

Serenity Reef

There's something special about the ocean, the waves and sand are constantly eroding away the coast in a perpetual attempt to change the landscape. I could sense this constant change at this reef at my favorite beach in southern California. The sandstone tide pools show wear from the millennia of battering from the waves, but they have created a landscape unlike any other I've seen.

Last Light

This is my second time shooting the same subject. I was lucky enough that both times I came to this spot, the tide was at its lowest just as the sun was setting. The first time I visited, I wasn't able to capture exactly what I felt like capturing because I forgot a piece to my tripod. However, on my most recent trip, I had everything in order, and mother nature was working to my favor as well. With the timing of the tide, clouds, and sun being perfect I had to claim my spot along the tide pools well before the sun approached the horizon. I knew that the clouds might not be optimal, as they were quickly moving away from me as the air began to cool. I was able to take the last glimpses of the sun before it sunk behind the low-hanging clouds in the distance.

Endless

This is, once again, from my favorite location to shoot at in La Jolla. The tide pools along that small section of coast, are so dynamic, it would be impossible to get the same shot twice. I have visited this location many times before, so I tried to stray from the normal sandstone formations I normally shoot, and find a new composition. With the tide higher than normal, I decided to use it to my advantage, and show the waves crashing and interacting with the rock. I made sure to use a long exposure to show the movement of the water and sea foam as they moved through the eroding rock. Wave after wave, I kept taking photos to try to get the perfect look of the water sweeping over the rock. After a half hour in this location and hundreds of photos of the rock formations, I knew I had captured what I needed with this single image. I decided to have this photo in black and white to accentuate the rough texture of the protruding stone, and the silky look of the moving water.

Lone Galaxy

In early August this year, conditions to view the night sky were better than they have been in over half a decade. The new moon ensured a perfectly dark night, allowing for the stars to shine. The Perseids Meteor Shower was at its peak, with bright pieces of comet dust lighting the sky. And the jewel of the summer sky, the Milky Way, had its core completely viewable with the naked eye. Cameras are amazing at night, they can show you more in the dark than what your eye could ever see. Leaving the sensor exposed to the dull light of the night sky reveals what you're truly missing. With this photo, I attached an ultra wide angle fisheye lens, to capture as much of the night sky I could in one photo. I positioned myself to capture the Milky Way arching above this lone tree in a field high up in the mountains. I left the camera perfectly still for 30 seconds, gathering far more light than the human eye can see. As I viewed this image for the first time that night, I knew that this was instantly one of my favorite photos I made from that night.

Radial

On a long hike near my home, I was climbing to the peak of a rarely visited foothill. As I pulled myself up the rocky hillside, I noticed this small succulent that made its home in a small crack in a massive granite boulder. I pulled out my camera to get a close up shot of this delicate plant just barely clinging to life on this rock.

Eagle Rock

This is one of the newest locations I've found here in San Diego, and incredibly beautiful. Located near the Pacific Crest Trail in a small cow pasture, this granite feature rises up 20 feet into the form of an eagle. It almost looks like it was carved by human hands because of how accurate of a depiction it creates. This was the first, but certainly not the last time I will take a photo of this spot. In the near future I will make another trip to this rock and get some shots of it during the night.

Water Abstract

Abstract photos are some of my favorite subjects to capture, it's art in the purest sense, no specific subject just pure design. During a quick trip down to La Jolla, CA i was hoping for an amazing sunset. But as the sun inched closer to the horizon, it became evident that the clouds which normally make beautiful sunsets, were too abundant to let the sun shine though. So my plan B was to capture small elements from my surrounding that didn't require beauty in the typical sense. I pulled out my powerful telephoto lens to capture the small ripples near the tide pools below me. After several dozen shots, I finally got the photo I wanted. Smooth repetitious patterns of small waves forming on the ocean surface.