Day 265/366

"Marine Corp Band"

At the Pleasanton Highland Games they had lots of entertainment. One downside to shooting the athletics, is that they are all day, so I never really get to experience the rest of the Scottish Festival. Not that i'm complaining, would just like to be able to shoot the dancing and bands and people in general.

Luckily at the Pleasanton Games, they had a nice long lunch and we actually had to move locations, so I got the opportunity to shoot some other stuff during the break. The Marine Corp Marching band was there. And these guys were great.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Day 262/366

"Caber Toss on Racetrack"

First off let me apologize for the short image only posts the last few days, I have been having fits with my computer. Apparently it didn't like that I let it for 3 weeks. From failed HD, to corrupted Lightroom Catalogs, to 348 Corrupted images on my CF Card, it has not been a great week for electronics.

But hopefully I have most of it back up and running. My HD is on it's way back to Thailand and the luckily I had backups of the lightroom Catalogs, so it was fixable.

On the Photo side of things, I have been shooting a bunch this week, From Swimmers to football players to Senior Portraits. So that has been pretty fun.

So todays image is from the Pleasanton Highland Games, I am finally back to processing the almost 10,000 images I shot over the last month. That's frightening just to say that and to know that I will be very busy for the next few weeks.

The Pleasanton Games were unique in that the Caber Toss and Weight over Bar were both held on the Horse Racing Track, So I got to be out on the track walking around. It was also great fro the Athletes since they were performing in from of the grand stands with thousands of people. It was also cool photographically to have a Horse Racetrack as the back drop for most of these pictures.

And for those Highland Games Folk, Hang tight I am working very hard this week on the images.

Day 254/366

I apologize for the lack of posts recently, I have been posting regularly on G+ and Facebook.

Here is another from my flight in from Las Vegas. That is Mt. Baker off in the distance. Again I love these clouds. I would love to have an airplane to just fly around and take pictures.

242/366 Sunrise

"Sunrise"

Went out this morning at sunrise to shoot some Desert Landscapes. I am out in Lancaster California. Which is in the high desert so I thought I would go get some cool backdrops for compositing.

I was a little nervous about snakes. Luckily I didn't encounter any. 

This was a shot with the iPhone. And processed through Cross Process.

Day 241/366

"Andy Vincent - WOB"

Hey everyone, I am in LA having a great time. I am trying to get through the last 2 Highland Games, Portland and Enumclaw. That's like 6000 images. This is definitely letting me work out my new Lightroom Workflow. It has a couple kinks that show up in certain rare situations, but otherwise I find it much more efficient. I leave LA on Friday to travel North to Pleasanton California to shoot the 147th Pleasanton Scottish Highland Games.
 
http://www.caledonian.org/

Should be a really good games. So today's image is of one of the Pro's Andy Vincent. He is also a Strong Man and Former Miami Dolphin, which is my favorite football team.

This is catching the weight at the peak of it's height. This is the point at which the crowd goes from cheering to OOOHHHHHHHHHHH. I do like the clouds in this shot but will be very glad to hopefully have some sunshine for the games this weekend.

Take care and have a great day.

Day 238/366

"Blocking"

Had another fantastic day at the beach, I have to pick certain games that I shoot and then games where I just want to sit and enjoy. This is a match featuring Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb. They were 1 of the 2 mens teams representing the US at the olympics. Sean is a local boy and has a huge following. As you can see the weather was perfect, which I miss dearly living in the Pacific Northwest.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Day 235/366

Chariot

Hanging out at the SeaTac waiting for my flight. My chariot is pulling up to the gate.

Should be an exciting 2+ weeks including some portrait sessions, a Drink and Click Photowalk with +Christi Nielsen. The Northern California Highland Games. This is one of the largest in the country and I get to be out on the field shooting. 😄 and then wrapping the whole thing up with Photoshop World in Las Vegas.

Should be a good time.

Day 206/366

"WOB"

For those that don't know this is Weight Over Bar. The Portland Games was the first games I got to shoot at that had a Pro Division. At the other games I've shot there was always one or two pros that would show up mostly as practice.

This was the first time I got to see them go all out. We had world record holders competing and even some new World Records were set, so it was a great day to shoot. I shot over 3000 images and have gotten them whittled down to 400 or so. I will have more to post tomorrow and mostly I wanted to get through them to help me see what I can do better this coming weekend in Enumclaw.

This is one of the Pro's Matt Vincent. I also have a Black and White version, but thought this one was good with color.

Day 199/366

"Sheaf"

As I approach day 200 on my quest to post a picture a day for the whole year, I bring you another image from the Tacoma Scottish Highland Games. It was pouring rain and the athletes had little to no shelter. They were warriors out there.

The "Sheaf" consists of a Rectangular Burlap Sack heaved overhead using a pitchfork. It originated with throwing Hay. But evolved so the hay wouldn't get destroyed throughout the day. But on a day like this the Sheaf slowly got heavier and heavier from the rainfall.

This is Kate Burton, She is a kick ass competitor.

Day 194/366

"Don't hurt 'em Hammer!"

Sorry for the title, I had to do it. Gotta give MC Hammer props whenever possible.

Anyway, this is one more from the Bellingham Highland Games. There is a net that surrounds this event, to protect spectators should the hammer slip out of the hands of the athletes. But all I saw was a distraction, so I figured I would just stick my camera on tripod inside the net and hope for the best.

This location lasted for 5 maybe 6 competitors and I got nervous, since I am not sure if the insurance I have, covers for this kind of accident. Luckily nothing went wrong and I think it made for some pretty cool images. This is Charlie Latt, he was nice enough to not let the hammer slip and smash my camera into smitherines.

I am leaving tomorrow to head out to the Olympics. Not the ones in London, the ones we have here in Washington.

Thanks for stopping by.

Day 193/366

"Bellingham Scottish Highland Games A-Class"

This has been a beast of a job. Mainly because I ran out of Harddrive space and for some reason decided now would be a good time to completely re-examine my photography workflow. Mostly Lightroom, but also my Digital Asset Management.

I have it mostly figured out. I am still waiting for my replacement drive, which will arrive tomorrow. So I can get all the files into their proper location and then finish the final details of the workflow. I am working on a big post and possibly videos explaining everything I have done.

But for now, I wanted to share one of the Final Images. I just need to keyword all the final images so when I upload to my site the Athletes will be able to just search their name and all their images will show up.

This is the A-Class. One step below the Pro's.

To all the Athletes that have been patiently waiting for the images to be posted, the wait is almost over. I will hopefully have them posted by tomorrow night. I will be out of town this weekend and unable to be at the Skagit Games, but will be at both Portland and Enumclaw.

Good luck to everyone this weekend.

Day 192/366

"Trainspotting"

We are finally rounding that corner into what will hopefully be a good summer. I think we have peaked into the 70's once or twice. I know lots of you out there are dying from the heat and I do feel bad for you. But when it's Rainy and low 60's in late June, it just feels a bit odd. And last summer was mainly in the 60's. So I am hoping for some high 70's low 80's this summer.

So I felt I wanted todays image to be all about color and motion. That's one of the great things about photography, it can be whatever you want it to be. And for me I enjoy capturing things that maybe aren't noticeable by the naked eye. Like motion, it is very difficult for your brain to stop and separate one frame from the act itself. Much less a slow shutter version of it.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday.

Day 191/366

"Water Lillie's"

I figured I would have a little fun with an image I took recently. I was out and there was a little pond full of water lilies. I like the shot but being a huge fan of Monet, he has ruined regular photos of Water Lilies for me. So I though I would have a little fun with the image in photoshop using the Oil Paint filter. This is composed of the image processed several times with the filter, then using masks I had fun painting in more detail and multiple layers of subtle color changes.

Have a great night everyone.

Day 190/366

"Beach Volleyball"

I was looking at dates to head down to Southern California and was happy to see pro beach Volleyball on the schedule in Manhattan Beach. The AVP, which is the "Association of Volleyball Professionals" NOT "Alien Vs Predator" as I am sure many of you were thinking. Well they went bankrupt a few years ago and it looks like Jose Cuervo has stepped in. So it will be great to hopefully get back down there and shoot and play some Beach Volleyball.

Have a great Monday everyone.

Day 188/366

"Mystery Image"

I love when I come across an image and it takes me a second to realize what it is. I figured it out pretty quick, simply because I knew the location I took this image.

But I was interested to see if you guys could figure out what this was. I only did a little contrast adjustment, so the colors are pretty true to what came out of the camera.

So let me know if you can tell what this is?

Day 187/366

"Cargo"

I hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th. I am back to the grind today, was going through my images and still refining my Lightroom workflow. Little tweaks here and there. And still waiting on my G-Drive. It was shipped on Tuesday and wont be here until next Thursday. I have to say I am a little less than enthused with BH Photo's replacement process. The fact that they don't have a Cross Ship option is baffling to me. So i have to wait almost 3 weeks for a replacement of a defective product that I received from them.

Anyway, this got me thinking of the term "Slow Boat from China" And as I was moving around images I came across this image of a Cargo ship. This is how my replacement drive is getting it to me.

Have a great night everyone.

Day 181/366

"Seattle Underground Sign"

If any of you have been to Seattle, there is a tour of Old Seattle, that is currently 2 stories beneath the current seattle, or al least a part of Seattle.
It's interesting and entertaining to do the tour once, but loses some of it's luster the 2nd and 3rd time around. I will probably do it one more time once I get my 5D MK III, just because it's pretty low light down there and I couldn't relly get some of my shots, and it would be great to shoot some brackets down there.

So anyway they had this cool old sign down there. And I love me some cool old signs. :)

Thanks for stopping by, I am getting really close to being half way through this self assignment.

Day 180/366

"Barbwire"

This was shot in Aruba, I was down there on a cruise. While I shot lots of pretty pictures, there was lots of grunge to shoot as well. Which I love to shot as well.

Have a good night everyone.

Day 170/366

I always like to tune into +creativelive and check out what they have to offer, This last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday they had Jared Platt on Lightroom Workflow. He had some pretty compelling workflow concepts. So, I am reworking my workflow using some of his concepts and merging them with my current workflow. Mostly this came about because I was getting close to running out of hard drive space and had to upgrade my storage. So this class came at the exact right time, and lots of his ideas seemed pretty smart.

So during my restructuring, i am coming across some images from many years ago that i am reworking with Lightroom 4 and Nik Silver Effects. This one was shot at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. And it is the only shot that contains a Human element. I just wasn't into shooting people back then. And while i am not ready for full on street photography, I do think that having this person helps this image to tell a story, as opposed to it being straight Architectural.

Thanks for stopping by.

Day 165/366

"Ground Control to Major Tom"

Day 164/366

"Painted Nascar"

Last year for fathers day I sold a print of an image I shot at a Nascar race. It was of Earnhardt Junior who was at the time in the #8 car. So this year I was approached again by this client for a new image. I have only shot that one race and so would need to rely on those shots to find this new image.

The race was back in 2007 and I had to borrow my friends Canon Rebel XT. Which needless to say was not the best camera for the job, but as +Chase Jarvis says, The best camera is the one you have with you. I had rented a 70-200 2.8 lens, So I was good on the Glass. Just didn't have a lot of room to crop in, with the low resolution of the XT, especially since this was going to be enlarged to 12x16 image.

So I went back through and looked at the images I had. I was very happy with the image I had sold previously, Here it is if you haven't seen it.

http://bit.ly/L3YCpJ

So I was trying to get something in the same ball park of quality and creativity. And the clients father is a big Earnhardt Jr. fan, so he really wanted it to be of the #8 car. And from what I was seeing in the images, I didn't have anything that was tack sharp and interesting enough. I had an image of #8 and another car battling it out, but it was a little soft and grainy from the noise.

I was all set to cobble together an image in photoshop, I had gone through and tried to get images that would fit together, but it wasn't working, because of the steep bank of the track, the perspective of the cars were off and looked weird, I left it last night and figured I would figure it out today. But apparently there was a scheduled power outage today, so from 9am to 6:15PM I had no power and couldn't work on this image on the computer, which left me thinking time on how to solve this problem. I knew I didn't have the time to do a respectable PS Composite. So I had to figure out a new solution. Luckily with the power being off, I was relaxing and reading the latest issue of Photoshop User, and +Matt Kloskowski was showing off the Oil Paint filter, and I thought that might look pretty cool on my image. Once the power came back on I began preparing the image, I toned the image and got it looking cool, color wise, then took it to PS CS6 and started playing with the filter. And I was very pleased with how it came out. I called the Client and he came over and was as excited about it as I was.

I think if you put your mind to it, there is always a solution.

Thanks for stopping by.

Day 163/366

"Getting Lucky"

I was recently reading a statement by someone on Gplus, stating that being a good photographer is 75% luck. Well atleast getting a good shot is 75% luck. Now while this may seem logical in certain areas, like sports or landscape, where you have no control over what plays unfold in front of you, you just hope you get "Lucky" and get the right shot, or if you are shooting Landscape, you can't control the weather. Sometimes you get "Lucky" and have amazing skies.

But one of my favorite quotes is "Luck favors the prepared" So while to the novice it may seem like it is all LUCK, trust me, there is a lot of work that goes into getting those shots and predicting and preparing so you are ready when it happens. If any of you have seen Dave Black's Sports images or heard him speak, you know that he is a proponent of the ideas, "ARRIVE EARLY AND LEAVE LATE". and "KNOW YOUR SUBJECT" This is what makes the professionals look like they are just getting lucky. Over and Over  and Over.

So this was an image I was trying to get, I had this idea of panning with the car as it left the pits. JUST as it left, I wanted the people to be slightly out of focus. For there to be a slight hint of confusion by the viewer as to what was going on. It looks as though the car is still. But the energy in the wheels leads the viewer to question which element of the image is actually moving.

So while it is technically Luck, that I got this shot, there was a lot of effort that went in to me getting lucky.

Day 162/366

"Snakes on Things"

Last Tuesday I went to the Seattle Zoo, I was a Chaperone for my Nephews 4th grade class, unfortunately it was raining which makes all the animals head indoors, I got some decent shots. We were in the reptile area and they had this really cool colored Green Snake and had some nice light on it and the backgrounds help to emphasize the snake.

I shot this with my iPhone.

Day 161/366

"Night At The Museum"

I like to imagine the animals like in Night at the Museum, After the museum closes, the animals get to roam around and be cool. This elephant was getting ready to High Five his buddy. They would use there trunk to high five right? In my mind they would.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Day 160/366

"Tunnel of Love Indubitably"

Hopefully some of you get that title?

Today's image takes us back to Washington DC. This was the night Photoshop World ended and Photowalk Pro  hosted a photowalk. I have posted several from that night in the past. But after seeing  post with the blurry bus, I remembered I had this image, This was actually at the Very Very end of the Photowalk and we were waiting for our trains to come and take us home. The station was fairly empty, which is what allowed me to get this image with nobody in it.

This was processed in Lightroom 4.

Take care and have a great weekend.

Day 159/366

"Go into the light"

I love the feel of having the sun in the shot, whether it be back lit stuff or lens flare. Without the light in this shot, I think this would be a very boring picture, but the fact that the building trails off into white, is what makes this shot interesting. I shot this as a bracketed sequence, but after seeing this shot, I knew I didn't want to bring back any of the blown out sky. I had looked at a couple different Toned versions, but once I did the straight Black and White version I knew it felt like a much stronger image.

And I specifically framed it to have the other buildings just peeking in on the edges. Thought it would help create a little tension. :)

I took a bunch of other shots and haven't made it through them all, But if any of the other ones turn out this nice as this one, I might have a little series going on.

As always thanks for stopping by.

Day 153/366

"Birds on Things"

This picture just makes me laugh a little. We were on our #gpluspc Chinatown Photowalk with +RC Concepcion and there was this bird just kickin it on a pipe. And he or she would be looking around and right as I am about to snap the picture, it whips it's head around and stares me down. I was BUSTED. You gotta be careful when doing street photography. I am not sure you can zoom in enough on this smaller version, but in the full res version it's eyes are staring right at me. So I took the shot and moved on for fear of provoking it into violence. And after listening to the GRID on Wednesday, I know to be careful.

So the second part of this story and thus the Title of the image, On my flight back fron San Francisco, I set next to the guy who created the Birds on Things craze in Portland. And the basis for one of the funnier skits from the sketch comedy show Portlandia. So now this image is doubly funny to me.

Hope you all get a little humor from it.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Day 152/366

"HDR to the rescue."

While in San Francisco I headed over to Fisherman's Wharf, there is a pier there that wraps around the west side of that area and gives you a pretty good shot of the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately the Fog/Clouds had rolled in, and the shot just wasn't looking like I was gonna get anything. I knew I was going to shoot Brackets, I figured I would shoot the picture anyway, you know, since I was there. So I snapped off the brackets and moved along to shoot other stuff.

So while organizing my photos from the trip I came accross the brackets and figured I would process them with HDR Efex Pro. I was pretty surprised by the results, the high contrast made a pretty unique image, I did a little split toning to add some color came out with a pretty cool image of the GG Bridge.

Have a great day everyone.

Day 151/366

"Bay Bridge at High Noon"

I figured since I posted the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday, I would post the Bay Bridge today. This was a little trickier than the Golden Gate. I shot this hand held at noon, so toning and processing would be key. While I do agree with the rules about shooting at Sunrise or Sunset for the Magic Hour, I do like to see if I can break the rules and make it work, sometimes it yields interesting results. I love the texture of the water and the toning. I also really like that it looks like the bridge is twisting, like that classic earthquake video of the bridge twisting. Anyone thats interested in the processing let me know and I will write more about it. I don't want to bore you with unnecessary detail. 

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great evening.

Day 150/366

It seems like the 150th consecutive post should be some kind of mile stone. but being that there are 366 days it's not halfway. but it's close. So trying to get caught up today, I have been importing images while tending to other things. I haven't had the time to process many images today, so I was looking for shots that would be easy to finish.

So in honor of it being my 150th day and in honor of the Golden Gate Bridge being 75, I am posting one of my Golden Gate images. I am actually pretty happy with this shot. And what I like most is the lens flare. it adds a texture to the image that I think without it, it would be less interesting. So Happy Birthday Golden Gate Bridge.

Day 147/366

"Bridge"

I really struggled to come up with a good name for day 147, and personally I think I NAILED IT. But then I was the Art Director. Anyway this weather is awesome once again. High 60's, slight breeze. I had intended on coming out at Sunrise this morning, but slept in instead. That decision was made by my 4am brain. But I think it was a good choice. This way I got to come down and scope out my location. On the way down I got to see President Obama's motorcade. And as it rolled by I could have sworn I saw him roll down the window and yell "Hansy Sucks". You know what I'm talking about +Pete Collins. Sorry that's a very inside joke.

Anyway, I had also looked up best coffee in San Francisco, and it happened to be in the Ferry Building. It was named Blue Bottle Coffee, and it was indeed delicious. I have a new thing now, I order a Latte and an Espresso. The Espresso is so I can taste just the coffee. And I will say this place is in the top 4 coffees I've had. Then I proceeded out onto the embarcadero to shoot the Bay Bridge. I will be back here at sunrise before heading off to the airport. It's been a wonderful trip. And as always I feel inspired to get back and shoot shoot shoot.
Take care everyone and as always thanks for stopping by.

Day 146/366

Today was one of those days I'll remember for awhile. First off, I had to send the Canon 5D MK III back to Lens Pro To Go last night. I had a great time shooting with it and it is now for sure on my wish list.

Since most of my days have been spent in and around the Union Square area of San Francisco, my friend and I rented a Zip Car and headed up to Muir Woods to wander amongst the Redwood Trees. So let's just say I have plenty shots looking up at trees. I shots lots of brackets and can't wait to see what I get. Definitely think I got some stuff to work with. I am posting a quickie that was shot with my iPhone.
For those Star Wars fans, this is the location of the Ewok Forest. If we had speeder bikes we could have covered more ground.
Also really happy with the images of the bridge that I got. I can't wait to get home and start processing all these images. But one more full day of shooting tomorrow.

Day 138/366

"Micro Refinery"

So I got the new PS CS6 installed and had these image from the local refinery. I had gone out to one of the overlooks to await the "Almost Supermoon" meaning it was the day after, but who knew the moonrise shifted by more than an hour. So while I was waiting I decided to shoot some of the refinery that was in front of me.
And while I was processing the images, I decided to play with the new blurs in PS6. And in doing so the part of this image I gravitated to most was the STARBURSTS. There were just so many of them, so I bumped up the contrast and exposure to help make them pop. Then used the tilt shift blur to help create separation. Echoing back to  post from a few days ago, I had no idea where I was going with this one, I just let the image speak to me and tell where it wanted to go.
I am pretty happy with where this one ended up.

And I know I am a little late to the Tilt Shift Blur Party, but it's a cool effect if used right.

Day 137/366

"Sunset"

We have been having some amazing sunsets this last week. And while I know posting too many sunsets gets repetitive, I am posting it more as a recording of today's sunset and I really never get tired of experiencing them.

Day 134/366

This is from the Photowalk I did the last day of PSW. I believe it is just a DC War Memorial. Shot with a Wide Angle lens, 7 Brackets, and assembled in HDR Efex Pro. And some final tweaking in Lightroom. I was trying to do a selective color version of the lit portion of the monument, but it didn't feel right. I know there is this NO SELECTIVE COLOR movement out there. But I don't buy it. I think as with anything, as long as it's done right and interestingly, anything goes.

Day 132/366

"Try and make it Unique"

Today, Adobe officially released the Creative Cloud, so I got to download all the new apps. So this is the first image processed through the full release version of PS CS6.

I was looking through some images from DC and trying to find something I could have fun with and came across images from my DC Photowalk lead by the Photowalk Pro himself,  I was the stragler of the group, I kept stopping to take bracketed shots. And I guess I saw things that the others didn't because no one ever stopped with me to shoot. :)
So I finally made it to the base of the Washington Monument, Now the problem before me is how do I shoot this thing in a somewhat unique, I mean this thing is shot like crazy. It is in several of my other shots and I use it there simply as a device to help the viewer instantly know where they are when looking at the image. But how do you try and create a unique image when shooting the Monument by itself.

I had one thing going for me, It was exceptionally windy, which helped to make the flags stand at attention. So I walked around and looked for a unique angle, I had an idea of shooting a bracketed sequence and embracing the fact that each shot will have a different flag in it. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but thought it might make for an interesting image. I also figured that this thing is so recognizable that I only needed to include a portion of the monument, for it to read as the Washington Monument.
I exported the image out of Lightroom and into HDR EFEX PRO and began to mess with it looking for something interesting. The one thing I did see was that the Flags were definitely interesting, and that became what I focused on. As I began playing the image began to look a little painterly, which really made the flags start to look cool. So I headed down that direction. I got the color and feel of the image how I wanted it, I then used a little trick where I reprocess the HDR into black and white and pump up the structure and contrast, then I layer that image on top of the color version in Luminosity Mode. And it really helps bring out the texture, and in this case helps with the Painted feel. I love the feel of the Monument.

Make sure and click on the image and look at the larger version.

Day 131/366

Today I was getting through more of the Pre Conference images. One of the "Generals" I shot most was great, and willing to walk wherever I needed him to go, so you will see him a few more times over the next week.

The day was spent at the Sully Plantation, in addition to the tents that were set up by our Civil War Re-Enactors, there was also buildings on site. The first thing we did when we arrived was walk around and get an idea for what would be good at the end of the day when the light got good. My friend  and I saw this building and thought it would be good. This was the day I had the 85 1.2 on my camera, so I was looking for ways to take advantage of it. So we had seen the porch of this building had some cool columns, So later in the day I had approached one of the Generals to head over with me.

The sun was just at the angle where the porch was in shadow, so he had to step to the edge and lean into the light. I tried to set it up as if he was looking out at the troops and contemplating his next move.

This is one of those times when you are on a group photo trip where it's hard to get a completely original shot. I had brought him over and was working with him to get the shot and as I was finishing I turned around and was surprised to see 10 to 15 photographers behind me waiting to get the shot. But thats also what makes group shoots great, if you are new or low on inspiration, just hang out and shoot what other people are shooting. At least you will have images from the day. The first time I went on the Photo Safari in Vegas, I was really trying to work on shooting more models. So I was one of the people that kind of hung around and shot what other people were shooting.

Thanks everyone for stopping by.

Day 130/366

At Photoshop World in DC I had the pleasure of going on the PreCon with Moose Peterson and Joe McNally. I had posted an image or two before. It was a Civil War Re-enactment troop. They had a couple of younger kids running around. I tried to just observe and capture them playing.
I had this Desaturated version and a Black and White version. Still going back and forth on which one I prefer. But I am leaning towards this one, so I figured I would post it.

If you go to PSW, I highly recommend taking in one of the PreCon workshops.

Thanks for stopping by

Day 129/366

This is +Matt Kloskowski stealing my shot. I had shown him the image from yesterday, and he thought it was something he wanted to also photograph. I kid about him stealing it, He and I were in the same boat with not enjoying the JETTY ruining the epic shot. And I am all for sharing, so he was kind enough to pose for a long exposure, although he kept misunderstanding when I was shooting and kept moving before the shot was over. We ended up shooting 3 or 4, and this was the first one and I really thing him moving made the shot more interesting.
The other cool and frustrating part of this image is if you follow the horizon to the left you will see a little group of islands. Those were the islands we were SUPPOSE to be shooting. but if you continue left that is a giant cliff that prevented us from walking around to Second Beach.
So to me this is a shot of Matt looking off longingly at the amazing Sea Stacks over there at Second Beach. And is standing on the very thing that kind of ruins First Beach for photographers.

Day 128/366

So we head to LaPush Washington. This was the final destination of the trip that took us by the waterfall from a couple of days ago.  and I headed to the infamous Second Beach. We made our way and arrived at the Second Beach Parking lot. And unfortunately that's as close to second beach as we got. You see, from the Second Beach parking area, you can see down to First Beach and the directions for how to get to Second Beach were a little scarce. And not knowing any better, we assumed the massive Sea Stacks and beach before us, was Second Beach. So we headed down and had a little over an hour to scout our epic sunset location. But as we kept comparing the shots that Matt had on his phone to the sea stacks in front of us, we slowly realized that we were at the wrong beach. But we were too far away to get over to the actual Second Beach.
Not all was lost, we still had this awesome scenery in front of us. And while some clouds had started to move in, I was creating some really interesting skies. The only drawback to First Beach vs Second Beach was that there was a Jetty that ran from the beach out to in front of the island. So it prevented us from being able to shoot the islands surrounded by water. But I had driven 6 hours to get there, so I knew I was gonna try my best to get something. I made my way to the Jetty and figured I would try and use the Jetty as my focus. So using the idea of having things in the Foreground that was written about by  I set to shooting a bunch of different angles and trying different things in my foreground. One of the things I love about this image is the waves came in and wrapped around the rocks and then receded, so it gave really cool texture and dimension to the water.
This is one of the shots that made the trip worth it. And I will now have to go back and shoot Second Beach.