10 of my many Favorites from 2011

These are not in any particular order, but they are some of my favorites of 2011!

This is Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park in Washington.

I was on a eight day photo trip with a couple of my friends. We hiked down to the beach and waited until sunset to captured this shot. Lots of nice beaches in the state of Washington!

I did some product shoots for Lisa Scarr. She is the owner of bagsulove.com. She sell good quaility purses. She wanted to to do some single shot product shots and also some shots with a lifesize Mannequin to showcase her purses. This was a diffrent type of shoot for me, but was a great learning expirence for me. See her web site http://www.bagsulove.com/

This is a shot of Seattle's skyline. It was taken from Kerry Park on a beautiful August night. The  conditions were perfect, clear, no wind or pollution. There were lots of other people taking pictures also, but we arrived early to get a good spot.

This is a shot of my grandkids during the Christmas holidays. They did very good during this session. They listened really good and I just  kind of let them pose on theire own and hit the shutter. Used 3 AB800's, one for the background, one meduim softbox to the left and one large soft box right center. This was a fun shoot!

Shot at Rancho Seco former nuclear power plant. Used a two minute exposure and my friend Bill Taylor drove his car up the hiil and came back down with the only his parking likes on. I love photgraphing anything with motion, streaks and light!

Shot of Sol Duc Fall in Olympic Nation Park. This was a easy  one mile walk from the parking lot. We arrived at the falls around 8:30 in the morning, just when the sun was at the right angle. I shot a few perspectives and you can see my friend Bill Taylor on the bridge in the background. These falls are worth the visit.

Baybridge shot from the overlook. When we first arrived at this spot it was dark and the fog did not look very thick, but as dawn rolled around the fog also rolled in. Setup my camera on the tripod and exposed this shot for 15 seconds. I was happy with the outcome and I think the fog added a nice mood to this shot.

Family shot I took of the Tu family on a 100 degree day at William Land Park. Although it was hot it was a fun shoot. There is a lot of nice choice's for a portait shoot within the park.

Shot of Imperial Beach Pier in Imperial Beach, Ca. There was a beauitiful sunset on Imperial Beach and I am glad I drove out to the beach that day on a recent stay in San Diego. I like when being patients pays off!

The Astoria Bridge spans the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon. This shot was taken from the Oregon side. My friend Bill Taylor scouted this location out weeks before we made the trip to Oregon. This was the last day of our Washington and Oregon photo trip. This is a long bridge and there were not very many cars crossing the bridge so I had to use a 90 second exposure to get the car streaks to show up across the entire bridge.

RT #51

This is a shot of the Tower Theatre in Sacramento. While taking this shot an RT bus stopped  for the redlight. This photo was selected for the April exhibition at Beatnik studios , the theme is  “Tower and the Broadway Icons”.  On Friday, March 30, Beatnik Studios will celebrate a new exhibition of original artwork inspired by the Tower Theater and other icons of the Broadway Corridor. I am honored  Beatnik studios selected my photo for the exhibition!

Wedding workshop

I attended a wedding workshop last weekend with the Northern California portrait photographers meet up group. This was my first time attending this type of workshop. I learn a little bit more about preparing to be wedding photographers. I also learned a couple of interesting lighting tips. See the link to view some of the photos that were taken by members of the group.

http://www.meetup.com/Northern-California-Portrait-Photographers/photos/all_photos/?photoAlbumId=6935632

Devil's Falls

Took a drive to Colfax to see Devil's Falls since we had a few days of rain the falls were running good. Devil's Falls is right off the road, you can see the falls from your car. Lots of other falls to see along the way on Yankee Jims Road.

Directions from Sacramento, take I-80 north towards Reno. Take the Canyon Way exit or the Colfax/Grass Valley exit and turn right on Canyon Way. Approximately 2 miles down, turn left on Yankee Jim Road. From there, the falls are about 5 miles further in. The road start out paved then it turns to a dirt road.

Alcatraz

Well I finally made it out to Alcatraz for the first time. We caught the 9:00 a.m. ferry from Pier33. There were lots of people on the island, but I was able to shoot without any problem. You just have to be patient! Seeing it in person gives you a diffrent perspective. You kind of get a feel of how it may have been to be a prisioner on Alcatraz. This is a shot of one of the solitary confinement cell's aka "the hole" I used a off camera flash with a gel light red gel to get the color. I want to go back to Alcatraz again on one of the night tours.

See more Alcatraz shots here

Tower Bridge & moon set

I got up early on a cold January morning to capture the full moon setting over the Sacramento  tower bridge. I met my photog buddy Bill Taylor in the parking lot in front of the State Capitol. We sat in the car wating for the moon to get low enough to include the bridge in the shot.  Time is very limited when shooting the moon. I did capture a couple of shots with the moon centered right over the tower, but this was my favorite. I had to set my tripod up in the middle of the street. I had to hurry because the car was headed right towards. I did have enough time to get my shot and get out of the path of the car!

See more Sacramento night shots here

Bliss Dance

I spent several  hours on two trips to Treasure Island to shoot the Bliss Dance Statue. You can shoot this from a variety of perspectives to make the statue look like it's changing poses.  Late afternoon , early evening into the night is a great time to shoot. At dusk the lights come on and the colors changed every couple of minutes. You can also get the San Francisco skyline and the Baybridge in the background also.  Check it oot on your way to or from San Francisco while crossing the Baybridge. Take the Treasure island exit!

See more from my Bliss Dance gallery here