A Photographic and Cinematic Adventure On The Creative Frontier
It seems only surfers know about this place. It was a lucky discovery for me, so we planned our entire day around finding it. Once we did, the tide had started to rise and move in. However, having only one shot at making a photograph, we risked it….thankfully we made the image and got out before the tide blocked our escape. The next app I am adding to my iPhone…Tidal Charts….does anyone know of a good one?
After his victory at this year’s Paris-Nice, Cadel Evans is looking strong. He is obviously planning on defending his Tour de France championship from last year. In honor of his early season form, I thought I would share a photo I shot of him at last year’s USA Pro Cycling Challenge.
If you would like to put other images from the USA Pro Cycling Challenge on your iPad, you can grab my iPad Wallpaper Packs here.
I’m a sucker for historic hotels, so getting to stay at the Grande Colonial in La Jolla was a real treat. It’s a great property sitting just above the cove, which puts it within walking distance of everything. I couldn’t get enough of this hall. It seemed like something right out an Eagle’s song…except the folks here are really nice and they’ll not only let you checkout, they’ll let you leave. Although I’m sure they’d love to see you back.
I hope you have enjoyed this week’s look at the enchanted areas of La Jolla. So far we have explored Mt. Soledad, the Coves and Cliffs, and UCSD campus. However, no trip to La Jolla (or the coast for that matter) is complete without a pier photograph. The Scripps pier had a famous appearance in an Ansel Adams photo back in the day. However, I learned a valuable lesson while photographing this gem. No matter how stable your tripod system is, it won’t work in the shifting sands of high-tide. The image below was close to a 90sec exposure in about a foot tidal water. At that point the tide had come in, so I backed up and increased the focal length a bit. Problem solved!
I actually kind of dig the quicksand technique…what do you think?
A 2 minute exposure is shifting sand...oops!
Finding the Geisel Library, was like discovering a alien spacecraft on your vacation. I was so overwhelmed by its scope, that I really didn’t know what to make of it. I decided to jump up on the planters that surround it, try not to step on any plants (or fall into a 30ft deep hole), and make an image of it in all its glory. After I got a covering shot, I was going to start to work the composition and see what else this piece of architecture would reveal to me. Well, it was about that time security cruised by and I had to make a quick get away! I don’t think I was doing anything illegal, but I have such a conscience I occasionally fool myself into thinking I am.
Remember my second rule of Photo Tourism Club, no no…not the rule that there isn’t a ‘Photo Tourism Club’. The second rule…’Photo Tourism Requires Planning’! Well, my all time favorite tool to plan my photo adventures is Trey Ratcliff’s ‘Stuck On Earth’. It’s an amazing way to research the area you plan to visit. You just need to be careful, it is going to show you so much cool and exciting stuff that you’ll need to carefully budget your time to make it all happen.
You can find my earlier review of ‘Stuck On Earth’ here.
You can download it for free here. (Currently iPad Only)
For this trip, I just fired it up!
Loaded my saved La Jolla Trip.
Then there it was, like a jewel that knew my name, the Geisel Library! Prior to Stuck On Earth, I had never heard of it.
