Monterey Inn's at Night

Here are a couple inns along the shore line in Monterey that my wife always comments about when we pass them. We stayed at the Lovers Point Inn not as pretty but you can't beat the view. I shot the inn's a lot later than I would usually shoot. It was an experiment I boosted the ISO up to 1600 and shot a series bracket shots for HDR. I was worried about the noise because HDR images usually have noise even at lower ISO's. I was pleasantly surprised. You don't know if you don't try. One thing I love about night time photography is the surprises like the light on the trees in the first image.

Whale Watching

I recently went whale watching in Monterey Bay on the Sea Wolf II. During the trip we saw grey whales and five killer whales finishing off a sea lion for a meal. We saw the grey whales from about a quarter mile a way. The killer whales were a lot more social (killer whales belong to the dolphin family) they were tail slapping, breaching, spyhopping and basically putting on a great show. It was as if the killer whales were celebrating their meal. The tour operators kept us out for an additional hour because they said it was a once in a lifetime show.


The killer whale on the left is breaching and the one on the right is spyhopping.

This is Stumpy a killer whale that was injured and other killer whales took care of. To Learn more follow this link.

A California brown pelican

A lucky sea lion that gets to live another day because the killer whales just ate.

Carousel Fine Candies

In my last post Prather Hay Ranch 2012 I talked about how things change with time. It's nice to find something that has stayed the same. Recently I went whale watching from Fisherman's Wharf  in Monterey California. While there I saw Carousel Fine Candies it has been on Fisherman's Wharf since 1960 and still makes its candy by hand. It has been featured on the History Channel here is a short video. I can tell you the candy is very tasty I have sampled quite a few of them! When in Monterey you should stop by and visit. It is refreshing to find something from the past that has not changed. Another place that has resited change is the Owl Soda Fountain Wenatchee Washington.

Prather Hay Ranch 2012

This is Prather Hay Ranch just north of Mount Shasta on Highway 97 by the California Oregon border.  In the first image I emphasized the sprinklers they remind me of my Grandfathers apple orchards except they did not have the wheels. He had to drag them from row to row. When I think of the orchard I can't help but think of when my Grandfather filled the cherry picker with gas and set me loose in the orchard. I was about eight and would eat apples until I puked and then eat more apples. If I got tired of one type of apples I would cruise to another row and start over. My Grandfather said I was better at operating the cherry picker than most of his workers. It was a sad day when my Grandfather pulled out all the trees by hand at the age of 82. They had an article about him and how they were all worried about him. They don't make them like that anymore he will be 97 later this month. I wish my kids could have had made great memories in the orchards like I did. Sometimes it's sad how time changes things. I guess that's why I try to preserve them with photography.



This is the first image I took I wanted to get the hay and the name of the ranch. In the image above I wanted to emphasize the sprinklers, hay on the ground and Mount Shasta.

Quadrantids Meteor Shower 2013 (Cosmic Spin)

In the early hours of January 3rd I attempted to photograph the Quadrantids Meteor Shower. I thought I did my homework right but it line up just to the right of this photograph. I was going to get this shot and then photograph the meteor shower on the next shot, but at 4am the sky got significantly brighter and it was hard to see the meteors. I could of crossed a little stream to line the boat up the meteor shower, but I have not been there during the day and I had no idea what the stream was like. I was alone and I did not want to take the risk of getting wet on a cold night. I did capture two meteors. I wish the did not so closely parallel the spin of the stars. If I had my choice I would of like them to cross at a 90 degree and to the stars so they would of stood out more. This is my first attempt at star trails with a digital camera. I have shot them on a film camera, but shooting them on a digital camera involves shooting multiple images and combining them later in software to avoid noise in the image. The noise happens because the sensor in the camera becomes hot as it is capturing the image. With film you can capture star trails with a single image. I used a Vello Shutter Boss to capture the multiple images. The Vello Shutter Boss is an interval timer that you can program to take multiple pictures. It can be used to create star trails, time lapse photography (which I plan to explore) and I imagine if you put your mind to work you could come up with many other creative ideas. It was an interesting and relaxing shoot. Set up the camera, use a flash light to focus, set the timer, paint the boat with a three cell Maglite and sit back in my chair and watch the meteor shower. Painting the boat with light added a little contrast and  punch to the boat. It warmed the color and added color contrast too. It also created a stronger reflection in the water. During the shoot I heard ducks, geese, owls and a few disturbing noises (gurgling and thumping what I would assume large pieces of driftwood hitting the shore). Once when checking my surroundings I looked over my shoulder I saw a very bright and long meteor disappear on the horizon. About 180 degrees from the shower I was watching. Made me wish I had my camera pointed in that direction. At one point about 3am someone came to the store ran a few compressors and left. The drive there and back was nice too I saw a dozen or so deer each way. I learned quite a bit too I had the lens of my camera fog up (about 20 minutes of the shoot was unusable shots) otherwise the trails would of been longer. I don't know of a solution but will be looking into it. I also would like a stronger flash light for light painting and always have extra batteries so the beam is nice and strong. I had dressed very warm and was very comfortable. The only thing that got cold after a while was my fingers and toes. I had two shirts, two jackets, sweat pants covered by jeans, wool socks, I don't know what it is called but it's thick has a hole and goes over your head and covers your neck and shoulders and ski mask. It was near or below freezing. I could probably used a hand warmer. I can't wait to to shoot more star trails and to do more night time photography. It is something I have always wanted to do but never took the time to do. Even though I did not get very many meteors it was worth it and I got to enjoy the show while I got a great shot.

This is a single frame with the boat where I did not paint the boat with light.

Astro Orbiter Disneyland

When I saw the odd shape of the Astro Orbiter ride in Tomorrowland at Disneyland I could not wait to come back at night to shoot it in motion. I was lucky enough to get rain right before I made it there so the ground was wet and I got reflections on the ground.

Happy New Years 2013

Happy New Years! I finally got a chance the western side of the bay bridge. This is my first attempt  at shooting late at night. These are the fireworks at midnight. If you look on the bridge you can see CHP making the cars that stopped on the bridge to watch the fireworks. They had to make four or five passes because people kept stopping. I still want to shoot the bridge at dusk. I have shot the eastern span and have it in the post Bay Bridge at Night (New and Old).