Downtown San Diego

Paul and I again headed downtown. This time we did some shots of the commercial fishing pier just north of Seaport Village.























The clouds were nice for some archetectural shots. We also got some nice shots of the San Diego Trolley.

















This was a long-exposure shot of the US Midway.

Ocean Beach

Paul and I went to Ocean Beach on our next photo outing. We arrived around 7:00 in the evening. We took many pictures of the pier, the city and the lights. These are some of the favorite ones that I took that evening.

This first one is the entrance to the pier itself. I like the lens flare that I picked up. Not always good photographically - but it is an interesting touch.

















I liked this photo - the siloutte look of the fisherman - yet with the nice colors behind.

















Now - we are getting into some serious long-exposure times.
















Who needs a star filter when you have a tripod? Actually - a friend of mind does have an 8 point star filter - and it is really cool. It would take a photo like this and really make the lights stand out.

Seaport Village

Paul and I had an outing at Seaport Village. This is one of my more favorite photos that I took this past summer. I like the way I was able to capture some of the colors in the sky, as well as the nice detail in the water.

























This is of the Hyatt in Downtown San Diego. I found it interesting that the sky turned this brown.

Swim Meet

Once again - it was swim meet time. I think that I went to two different swim meets in 2 different weekends. My photos show that I took a lot of similar type pictures. Anyway - Caleb is doing fantastic with his swimming. He has been practicing for 1 1/2 hours Monday - Friday and he still seems to enjoy it.

The Presidio

What a wonderful day of photography. First - we went to a couple of camera shops where my friend bought a new bag for his camera, lenses, flash and filters. I think that we tried out all of the bags in the store. We then grabbed some lunch and went to the Presidio above Old Town. What a wonderful view from there.

Belmont Park

Paul and I went to Belmont Park for some evening shots. We found the roller coaster to be a wonderful subject. I think we wandered around for a long time until we could set up our tripods and get some good shots.
Of the several hundred that we both took that night - these are some of the best ones.



























A bit closer in - I liked the lighting that was cpatured with this shot.

WE set up our tripods and flash units and spent a lot of time getting the coaster coming around one of the last, fast turns.

La Mesa Car Show

Every Thursday evening through the summer, the city of La Mesa has a free car show. I have been several times. This is a great opportunity to see some great cars, take some great photos and talk to people who have spent a lot of time and money restoring these great cars. There is a lot of American iron there - some foreign. There is stuff that is relatively recent to stuff that is pretty old. This is a great event - feel free to bring the family!

This was one of the best examples I have seen of an original Bug. The paint was immaculate.

Balboa Park

One of the most photographed buildings in all of San Diego. I met a friend from work in and he allowed me to try out his wonderful Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS lens. While these pictures are not taken with this lens - I did capture some wonderful images with it. That lens is on my "wish-list" for someday. These pictures are with my standard Canon 28-135 f3.5-5.6 IS lens - of course - I used a tripod with this photo. I liked the way the lighting came out with this photo.














This is another picture that has been photographed many times. I liked the extra light in the sky during this time of night.

Cornado Evening

Yes - I have been quite remiss in posting to my blog lately. I see that it has been more than 6 months. Where has the time gone?
I have taken lots of pictures - sorted out the best - and now need to start posting those that I want to share.
As some of you know - we had some house guests for a while this past summer. Paul and I both love photography. We spent many evenings together talking about pictures we had taken, and had the opportunity for many great outings around the San Diego area. Here are photos from some of our trips. This is on Coronado - on the public fishing pier looking toward North Island. You can see the USS Ronald Reagan in the background. We were hoping for some more clouds - but did not get them on this trip.




















This is also from the public pier at Coronado but a little bit later. The building in the background with the green lights at the top is the Emerald Shapery Center in downtown San Diego.













This is another City Scene that I liked. My friend Harvey has a similar photo to this that he took several years ago. I was trying to create the same mood that he captured in his photo.

This is of Hotel Del Coronado. It was getting late - we had been taking photos for a few hours. I like the lighting on this one.

Wings Over Gillespie

On Saturday, June 16 - after the swim meet - we were invited by a friend at church to to to the Wings Over Gillespie Airshow in El Cajon, CA. The great part about it was - we had a personal invitation to his hangar. We parked on the tarmac, he fed us lunch, then we walked over to the airshow. It was hot - but there was lots to see. The boys had a good time.
There were quite a few people there that day - but overall - it was not as crowded as I was expecting. You were able to get quite close to some of the aircraft on display.

Swim Meet

Caleb had his first swim meet of the summer this June. All of his times were lower (he swam faster) than the last meet of last Fall. I think that he had a good time. We all really enjoyed watching him swim. I ended up timing about half of the races because they did not have enough people. As the meet goes on, some swimmers and families have commitments, and have to leave. We were there until the end.

Zoe - Likes her new Home

Zoe the dog seems to be getting along just fine these days. She really loves the boys. Of course - I am the Alpha Dog around the house and she thinks that I am going to step on her every time she sees me. She sleeps with the boys and loves to play during the day. Her favorite activity is napping. I think that if we let her - she would sleep 20 hours a day. What a life!