I've been watching the clouds, the sunlight and the position of the horses everyday for more than a month now to see if this whole scene would come to life the way I want it to. Unfortunately I never got what I wanted. I wanted some dramatic looking clouds (like in the shot below), good contrasty sunlight (which was readily available everyday since its summer) and the horses to be in the right place. The biggest problem was of course the clouds and the horses (they get shifted around). So the shot above lacks the dramatic clouds I wanted. Its a nice shot but it could have been better. I shall return again for sure.



Here's another scene that I've been waiting for. This time the clouds are there but not the horses. When they eventually did put the horses where I wanted them to, the clouds never came back.

I highly recommend the book "Waiting for the Light" by David Noton. Its the most inspirational landscape/travel photography book I've ever read. The take home message from this book is patience. On his trips David waits days or even weeks for good light to really capture what he wants. Sometimes the right moment lasts only seconds as a break in the clouds provide good, dramatic light on the landscape. I like that there are more images than text since I particularly have very little patience in reading through paragraphs of thick text. Its not my thing and I get nearly nothing from it. I absorb messages and points better through images and diagrams (thank goodness scientific journals are using more diagrams these days!). So its no surprise that other photo books that get more technical and explain with more text don't really help me improve as much as the books with just images.

We left Pomona at 6am last Saturday to Bolsa Chica Beach so Paul and his friends could catch some waves. As always this time of the year, the mornings are really cloudy and gloomy but the clouds somehow disappear during late morning. No rain no nothing, they just disappear! Strange indeed. After that you get scorching hot sun throughout the day.



Some huge waves appeared out of nowhere overnight that were 6-8 feet tall at Bolsa Chica Beach. Here's Paul doing his thing.



Then of course it was time for some portrait shots. L-R - Dave, David, Paul.



After that me and Paul went to Huntington Beach to watch the Hurley US Open of Surfing. Its a week long event and the world's best surfers were there. By that time the sun was out, it was burning hot and the high contrast made the surf photos pop. The crowd on the beach was crazy! I've never seen so many people on that beach before. We were up on the pier so I managed to get this panorama. Click to enlarge.



The waves here were even crazier than in Bolsa Chica. They were 8-10 feet high! This was one of the surfer's in the Junior Men's category. Click to enlarge.



Someone else in the junior category putting on a good show.



Lastly, nine time world champion Kelly Slater.

I love the horses on campus. They have this intriguing intelligent look on their faces and over time I think I prefer them over something cute and chubby. I'd love to have one but then I wouldn't be able to put up with all the food it needs and also what comes out at the other end. Plus I'd end up spending more time taking pictures of it rather than riding it. I think that this particular breed (Arabian Horses) has an intelligent look which I like. Other breeds have more of a strong and muscular appearance.

Click to enlarge.

Its the first time in two and a half months that I took a day off from labwork! (I'm there all 7 days of the week, holiday or weekend or not!) On the 4th of July weekend I went with the usual gang to Big Bear Lake. Its about an hour and thirty minutes drive from Pomona. As soon as we got there we checked into a cabin which turned out to be such a gorgeous and homely place. Its a double storey cabin with an attic. The bedrooms were all at the bottom level and you had to walk up to the living room and kitchen. Here's what the living room looks like. It came complete with teddy bears (!!) and a couple of lazy chairs.



Then we headed down to the lake to see if we could rent some kayaks but due to the wind they didn't allow us to do so. What a bummer. To kill time we just chilled by the lakeside and then headed back to the swimming pool. Here's another panorama of the lake. Click to enlarge.







Later that evening we went out to catch fireworks. This was shot at twilight before the show started. See the previous post for firework photos!

Click to enlarge.



The next day we went hiking up a trail called the Pineknot Trail that promised a "grand view" from the top. On our way up there was just loads and loads and loads of pine trees, all 3 miles of it.





At the peak, we were 7700 feet above sea level but the view was less than what we hoped for. The treeline had grown. Needless to say I didn't get good photos.

So after the hike, we all took a short rest and headed home. Click to enlarge.

More fireworks photos as promised! Photos were taken at Big Bear Lake on the 4th of July. A good 30 minute fireworks show was put on over the lake. The show started at 9.15pm but the sun had just set about 30 minutes ago at 8.45pm. There was still some residual glow in the sky if I exposed long enough and that brought out the mountains in the background.



There were a ton of people by the banks of the lake and I had to make do with a little spot I found. I couldn't move around much so the angle is pretty much the same for most of the shots. Boring? Yeah but I'm pretty happy with what I got considering the fact that I couldn't move. Also, having some heads in the picture definitely helps alot in the composition.





I like the blue colored fireworks and how they turn out in photos. I think blue just suites the dark night better than red or orange but thats just me. Contrary to popular belief the finale is actually the worst time to shoot photos. There's just too many explosions and the sensor is just completely flooded with light.







I can't wait to go home for another round of fireworks in August!

Big Bear Lake was so busy with tourists that it was hard to find an empty spot. It was the 4th of July weekend so many people came out with their families. Its only about 1 hour and 30 minutes from Pomona so it ain't too far. The lake was peppered with boats of all sorts and the occasional parasailer was seen in the air. Here's a relatively quiet area of the lake.

Being out on a trip after so long has really made a huge jump in my level of joy! I had a Sunday off (sorta, since my labmate did my work for me on Sunday) so me and my friends went off to Big Bear Lake. There was quite a fireworks show on the night of the 4th of July so we all went down to the lakeside to view it. It lasted about 30 minutes. Here's one of my favorites that I have processed. More to come soon (after more assays and experiments of course)!

This was shot at a revolving lounge on the 35th floor of the Westin Hotel in LA. Its a single RAW file HDR. The view was fantastic but without a tripod I could only do so much. I'm still amazed at how much dynamic range is in this shot despite being at ISO 1600, 0.8 seconds. I want to find a location in downtown LA to take photos like this! Prefebly without glass panels (open air) and somewhere I can put a tripod down. Any suggestions?