Smoky Sunset

 

Took this sunset shot out in rural Elk Grove. The sky's were Smoky from the Butte fire and the sunset colors look really saturated from the smoke.

Took this timeLapse with my Gopro4 Black edition

Gopro

I bought a Gopro Hero4. This is a neat little addition to the assortment of DSLR's I have purchased over the years. It a neat little camera that takes pretty good pictures and nice video. I will use it to compliment my landscape trips, portrait shoots and general photography. I like the wide angle lens and some of the Protune features.

I had the Gopro on a tripod playing around in my backyard. I love taking pictures from different perspectives!

Self Portrait on the Sacramento Tower Bridge

I took this on the Tower Bridge in Sacramento. I used the canon 15mm fisheye lens

F11, 20S ISO125 I had a hard time keeping still. Next time maybe I will used off camera flash in second curtain mode. Would love to do something like this with a model. I love the challenge of  low light and long exposure photography.

Fisheye shoots Super Moon

This was shot from the Marin Headlands in San Francisco. The idea was to use the Fisheye lens to exaggerate the curve on Conzelman  road while capturing the light streaks from the cars and also capture the Golden Gate bridge and the city in the background. I did not realize there was going to be a supermoon. We seen lots of photographers and spectators, the conditions were near perfect. 

8th Anual Fire Spectacular

I am honored to be the photographer for the 2nd year in a row of the 8th annual Fire Spectacular.
Excellent show, great job by all performers. Founder of Obsidian butterfly Sequoia did a great job organizing this event and Obsidian Butterfly's performance was over the top. see more photos
here http://www.pbase.com/cdsims/8thanualfirespectacualr

Andy Pischalniloff aka (Major Blaze)

https://www.facebook.com/pischalnikoff?fref=ts

Universal  Flow Art ( Madeline) Very  created & talented artist

See more of her work at link below

https://www.facebook.com/universalflowart/info?tab=page_info

 

Blue Moon

 

 

 
 
A blue moon is defined when 2 full moons occur in 1 month. This usually happens once every 2 1/2 years

 

 

This is a shot of the Blue Moon July 2015 at the California State Capitol. I had to really work to get this shot. At times I was in the middle of the street but luckily the traffic was not very bad. The moon moves so fast making it a challenge to shoot, that one of the things I love about shooting low light photography. I like how the color of the moon changes as it moves through the atmosphere. I used my Canon 40D with 100-400 lens. Camera settings F9, 1/3S 350mm A blue moon is defined when 2 full moons occur in 1 month. This usually happens once every 2 1/2 years.

 

 

Photoshoot at Leland Stanford Mansion with Erika Vaca Miss Sacramento Latina 2015

The grounds at Leland are small but there are lots of photo ops!

 

Had a great photoshoot with model Erika Vaca Miss Sacramento Latina 2015
 

Highway 101 & Highway 280 interchange

This is Highway 101 & Highway 280 interchange. To get this shot we had to go
through a cyclone fence and stand on a hillside over looking the freeway. See more
San Francisco cityscape here  http://www.pbase.com/cdsims/san_francisco_nightshots

Old House in Petersberg, Oregon

This old house looked spooky and lonely out in the middle of
nowhere.

Panther Creek Falls

This is a shot of Panther Creek Falls which is actually in Washington. The
falls were a little rugged getting to. Had to climb down a rope and than scale down a wall.
It was well worth the climb. Be sure to take something to cover your camera with
because the mist will get on your lens. See more photos from my Portland Oregon & Columbia Gorge
http://www.pbase.com/cdsims/oregon

Moon set

This is a shot of the moonset I took on the way home from work. I took this on Scott Rd. in Folsom, Ca. I seen the moon getting closer to the horizon so I pull over and had to run a bout 50 yards to line it up with this tree.
Camera 5DM3
400mm, 1/250s ISO 400

Berkeley Pier

Took this shot of the old Berkeley Pier from the current Pier. This was shot prior to
 sunrise. This is one long pier.

Sacramento Elk's Tower Ballroom Shoot

I attended this dance workshop shoot organized by Mark behrens  at the Sacramento Elk's Ballroom. There were a variety of proffessional & semi-pro dancers from Ballet to Jazz and Hip Hop. This was my first time shooting dancers on this level. Great shoot! I had a good time shooting and  meetting some of the photographers. Talented group of younG ladies that were fun to shoot!

Check out the behind the scenes video to the shoot! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eOHKjmIfbQ

Also see link to my photos from the shoot!

http://www.pbase.com/cdsims/elks_ballroom

Sutro Bath steel wool spinning

Well I had been wanting to try this for a while now. We went out to Sutro baths and Bill, Don and I had our cameras setup on the  tripods. I am spinning in the photo above on Ocean Beach right below the cliffhouse. I had Bill hit the remote on my camera and this is what I got.

This is a shot of me at the entrance of the cave at Sutro baths. I can't wait to go out and try it again!

See more light painting here!

http://www.pbase.com/cdsims/light_paint

New camera 5D Mark III

I finally broke down and bought the 5D Mark III after using the 40D for the past 5 years. This was one of the first photos taken with it. I was able to test out the in camera multiple exposure mode here. I could not get the headlights and tail lights in a single exposure so I took advantage of the Canon 5D III multiple exposure mode. This photo was taken in Sacramento right by the Embassy suites hotel. So far I am happy with the results of this camera!

Mare Island light painting

Went to Mare Island to do some light painting. We found these old Abandon Barracks. It was spooky inside. There was broken glass and holes in the floor, you have to watch every step you take because you could easily fall into one of the holes that was in the floor. I like the way the colors glowed off the walls and floors.

In this photo I used a flash light with a red gel to paint the front, Don Taylor was upstairs with the flash using it to light up the upstairs and Bill was spinning the light making an Orb. We had a full moon so it helpd to light up the side of the building.

See more light painting here!http://www.pbase.com/cdsims/light_paint

Enchanted Brides

Here are a couple of shots I took at a photo shoot at Empire Mine park in grass valley. Nice place for a model shoot lots of photo ops.

See more photos here!
http://www.pbase.com/cdsims/enchanted_brides

Fourth of July fun

These are shots of me and my son playing around with fireworks. I used a Tripod with remote trigger. Camera settings were f8 25s iso 100. We used sparklers to get this effect. I was practicing with the sparklers for an up comming experiment I have been wanting to try.

Urban Nighttime and Glam in Old Sacramento

Shot these model in Old Sacramento at a Capitol City shooters meetup. I used a shoot thru umbrella with a 580ex ll on a light stand. Some shots I used a grid on and 580ex ll and another 580ex without a diffuser. I am still doing at least one portrait style meetup a month. It is helping me to use  and understand my lighting equipment. Hoping it will pay off in the long run. The models were dressed in Hollywood glam dresses. They were easy to work with and knew how to pose with little instructions.

See more photos here! http://www.pbase.com/cdsims/urbanshhot

Hedge Creek Falls

This is Hedge Creek falls in Dunsmuir, Ca. A small waterfall about 30Ft. in height, but I like the thin flow of water. Short easy hike ! I did not notice this girl was in the photo until I downloaded my photos to my computer. I like shooting the thin waterfalls, the exposure is asy to control. This was shot in June, if you want to shoot it in the morning make sure you are there before 11 a.m. because the sun starts hitting it around that time.

Lombard St. from a different perspective

This shot of Lombard Street was taken from the bottom looking up about a 1/2 a mile away. I did not notice the two people standing at the top unitl I viewed the photo on my computer screen. This was a 94 second exposure. Shooting from this distance you need a clear windless night. I was happy with my results!