November 28, 2019 Thankful

Wintergreen. November 2019

It’s that time of the year again when we’re supposed to be thankful and spend valuable time with our friends and family. Ironically, it is also the time when we’re encouraged to spend more money on unnecessary stuff because everything is 50% off or something. I looked out the window first thing in the morning and saw a familiar offshore spray; I was not expecting it to be that good since the wind was howling WNW a couple days before. This year, instead of spending all day on the internet and debating whether I should sink entire paychecks for more camera gear, I layered up, grabbed my camera and walked to the beach. Out front of my house, the waves weren’t that great; it was kind of wonky still and the tide was rising to a 5.9ft. I scoped around with my binoculars and noticed one peak way down south was continually spitting. It turns out there was an inner bar, making it super hollow, fast, and dumpy. I quickly made my way down. The sets kept coming; surfers were making it out of deep barrel sections; it was hard to leave despite my hands freezing from the cold wind and my camera battery running low. The swell wasn’t that big, but it was super clean even with the inside current ripping south. It wasn’t long before I realized I had been there almost all morning. I went home, ate a quick lunch, grabbed another battery and headed back out. Rarely does it stay consistently good from dawn to dusk, but it was, so I couldn’t leave. It was a classic winter day. 

Happy Thanksgiving.

November 23, 2019 Winter Arrival

There was something about today’s conditions that felt nostalgic to the winter of 2012. Blue skies, ENE wind, double overhead, giving OB the classic green winter look. A good size crowd was out in the lineup as well as the dunes.

October 27, 2019 Too Offshore

Is there ever such a thing as too offshore (for surfers)? The weather forecast predicted wind gusts up to 40+ mph which was bad news for the wildfires but exciting news for surfers and surf photographers. I heard the wind howling in the early hours of the morning. At the crack of dawn, I put on my wind breaker and headed out to see how the ocean looked. Most of the smoke had blown south, allowing the morning light to shine through. The wind gusts were so strong it felt like a sandstorm at the beach, causing difficulty standing up straight at times. The swell came up and I could see the inside current ripping south. A few dawn patrollers attempted to paddle out. The wind was substantial enough to create offshore white caps, and caused the lips of the waves to be very crumbly. Once in a while admits the chaotic looking sea, a gem peak or left would appear. It didn’t take long for sand to get into my eyes and all over my camera; I quickly took some shots and returned to shelter.

October 16, 2019 Cloud Fire

Another round of “nuclear or dud” commenced tonight. An hour before sunset, the sky was gray, and the horizon had a thick gray cloud layer which usually indicates a dud (i.e. not a good sunset) due to the horizon being blocked. I noticed the cloud layer seemed closer in distance than the higher clouds; there was a bit of orange color glowing from underneath. I had a hunch it was going to be a burn if the horizon was clear behind the cloud layer. After many times of missing good sunsets by being lazy, sitting at home, and hoping it was going to be anticlimactic, I decided it was best to take the camera out and see the result. As I left the house, I saw the clouds behind me light up; it almost looked as if they caught fire. I ran as fast as I could to the beach. The clouds ignited with orange and pink before my eyes, as I kept telling myself “I knew it I knew it”. I had my zoom lens on so I couldn’t capture the entire sky, but I was about to see the details of the clouds. Even though the waves were mediocre, there’s nothing like watching nature’s color show. Long after the sun went down, the clouds still had color, still burning.

October 6, 2019 Red Sea

After living under the fog 24 hours a day during the summer months, it was refreshing to finally to see some deep saturated sunset colors. There was broken up clouds all the way to the horizon, so I was only expecting some light pastel colors. After the sun disappeared over the horizon, the Cumulus clouds started to become more and more pink. I quickly launched the drone to get a bird’s eye view.

September 1, 2019 Thanks for the Weekend

I spend almost every night staring at a computer screen. It’s much easier to sit comfortably at home than to plan a trip, pack, and drive 10 hours to an interesting location. At the end of the day though, I’m more content with the latter. There simply is no substitute to be sitting around a campfire, being surrounded by trees and stars, and sharing stories with people who you don’t see often. Did I mention there was no cell service or electricity, or even running water that night? So much of what we do with our electronic devices doesn’t matter in reality. Yes, we can live without all these amenities and conveniences, we don’t need to be in constant communication with the world 24/7, or have to share every moment of our lives. I know that myself still succumbs to this digital world, but I said I can forgo it, at least for one night.

See you in the morning.

August 30, 2019 Crater Nights

I took two of my good friends to see and photograph the Milky Way. We set up camp, ate dinner, then started the hike up the peak as the sun went down. The darker the sky turned, the more stars started to appear. By the time we got to the top, we could already see the Milky Way span across the lake. It was brightest and more prominent near the horizon. I want to thank one of my co-workers for letting me borrow his lens, which had a much larger maximum aperture than mine allowing more light to enter the sensor. See the slight purple/magenta glow? My eyes lit up as I saw that on the back of my camera.

June 9, 2019 Early Mornings

With only a few hours of bad sleep at a noisy campground, I made it for sunrise at 5:47AM. I could not see much of the sky from my campground. Some clouds can’t be seen in the dark and only appear once light hits it. I had to make the decision whether to sleep in or wake up in 39F air temperature, pack the tent, and drive to a spot. I pulled over on the side of the road to where I thought was a good angle for sunrise. The sky wasn’t completely devoid of clouds so it had some pre-dawn colors. I was joined by a few other photographers and had a nice chat with them, then I booked it backed home.