Friday night I hiked down the short path at Bluff Cove down to a rock reef. I've sailed around this rocky point in the Catalina 30 and sailed over and through it one summer day on a 15' sailboat. The amount of land to take pictures from drastically changes depending on tide levels.Friday night, just as the sun was going down, I was able to walk around the tide pools and get a close picture of the horizon and tried using the pools for reflections. It was a dull sunset but I was content to get back in time to use my camera and try out the wide angle lens.

The next morning I was up at 4:45 and drove up to Del Cerro park, located at a good lookout point on top of Palos Verdes and facing Catalina Island. Here's some pictures of the shipping traffic, the moon high above, and the sun coming up over the channel and over Los Angeles to the north.

To round out the weekend, I finally went kayaking again, leveled the v-berth bed with some Dri-Deck that I had to wash the scent of plastic off of, and did other random projects around the boat.

There was a corvette club car show in the parking lot next door on Saturday. I was pretty dang excited to try my new wide angle 17-35mm lens which is perfect for getting right up close to the classic cars and the lens distorts how they look which produces interesting results. 

Also a first for my blog,  trying a slideshow (below) of photos. Hope you enjoy! 

More testing out of my new lens. And a really awesome relief-style map of Redondo / Hermosa beach that was on a wall at the Redondo Beach Hotel.  

Mia’s friend Laura flew down to visit and they stayed in the Redondo Beach Hotel just across the street. As a special event for the weekend we went to Justin Timberlake’s show at the Forum on Saturday night. We also checked out Eatily in Century City which was a huge open seating room which about 15 different restaurants and shops all for good Italian food. 

Big Tujunga Canyon Bridge near the dam  

Sun setting under hazy clouds over Malibu mountains from Mt. Lowe trail. I didn’t see a single other person on my hike which seemed weird given how great it was.  

From the Mt Lowe railway tunnel looking towards Mt San Antonio. Also displaying some of the power of this 28-300mm lens  

Welp. I made a significant investment into this photo hobby of mine that I've been gradually learning since the beginning of last year. You might remember how it all started, last winter I dug out a Pentax film camera from storage and shot a few rolls. This camera had some risks of losing precious film in the mail and limits to 24 and 36 exposures that must be perfectly done or were a waste of money. I loved taking pictures and that shutter click, though. So I got the most sensible bang-for-my-buck entry-level camera in June which is the Olympus OM-D EM-10 mark II. Many good reasons to justify that, but it left me wanting a couple of things. Better photo quality from a larger camera sensor, better feel of the camera and quality of images. Now that I've taken some more trips and learned a lot more about photography, and thanks to my brother for an Adobe subscription, I kept rolling my eyes at the limitations of the micro four-thirds mirrorless system. I missed the cler-chunk feel of a real shutter opening and shutting and how much more information a full-frame camera can gather. There are pros and cons to everything and I was tipping the scales back and forth for a long time to determine if I should get a full-frame DSLR.

Sunday’s walk around the Redondo pier area. I just had my earphones in and tried to find a creative way to compose the place.  

I finally did. The Nikon D750. It's been around for a few years but it's a workhorse and powerful camera with solid reviews and the right price range. A user can use an endless variety of lenses to it and it's likely not to change for a long time. The other front-runner was a new Sony A7iii which is a mirrorless camera but it's full-frame and offered a ton of technology like my Olympus. Some of that worried me, because I feel like the mirrorless cameras are kind of delicate, but what worried me more is the cost of native Sony lenses... most are more than the camera itself and it would've brought a bundle out of my budget. I could go on, trust me I was fully engaged in thinking about these two cameras for weeks.

For now I still have the Olympus and if nobody wants to buy it then I guess I'll keep it. It's funny because the complete setup I had for that is less money than an *inexpensive* lens for the Nikon. So I guess you could say this hobby is getting serious. I am excited to learn even more as I go on.

Other pictures from around Redondo as well as the result of “operation hoist kayak so I don’t have to keep cleaning the bottom” by using extra dock line to suspend it out of the water. I’m please with the result and hope no more really strong winds come through for awhile. Center is a picture of the new Nikon D750 and 28-300 lens. I probably won’t use the lens hood that Often as it makes it seem even bigger and caused some minor vignette when at the widest angle. 

not much of a sunset through the haze 

Does this qualify as street photography? 

I’ve noticed the colors are different on this camera. probably more true and wid-ranging especially the dynamic range between light sky and dark shadows. 

Back to my adventure. Mia was out of town which meant I had some boat chores to do, including hoisting up my kayak on extra dock line and (hopefully) the last time I had to scrub the bottom of it. Midwaythrough SaturdayI was antsy and decided to pack a cooler with lunch and my backpack with some hiking clothes and go for a drive. I went up north of LA into the Angeles Forest on the winding 2-lane roads. These are popular for car and motorcycle enthusiasts who speed around the corners so I found myself pulling aside at turn-outs at least 20 times. I was on an entirely different pace for my day. The point was to see what's up there because I was always curious, and to find some good vantage points to try out my new camera. I eventually made my way to the Mt Wilson summit which overlooks the LA basin and could see all the way to Catalina even through the haze and clouds. I then hiked on a trial that was once used as a railroad from 1902 - 1938 wrapping along cliffs and through tunnels on narrow trestles - It's actually insane that they built this. It looks more like a frightening wooden roller coaster nailed into hillsides from the black and white pictures online. As things go, there was a devastarting wind at the observatory that it served, which knocked it down. So someone turned the land into a tavern to keep people coming up but then that had a fire and was never rebuilt. It was dismantled a few years later.

Sometimes I want to take these far trips to find hikes, views, and a feeling of the outdoors along with some interesting history. I think of Death Valley, Sequoia, Joshua Tree, Big sur, Lost Coast, etc. But this was basically in Los Angeles and checked off all the boxes, albeit they'd be smaller check marks.

Looking down at Pasadena from the tunnel

There were images at the trail head of a railway track and train along this cliff through the tunnel to provide supplies to Mt Wilson. Also I was impressed by the camera gathering the sun hitting the peak on the right while still gathering detail in the tunnel. Unedited.  

dusk view Angeles Crest Highway and long exposure to get some of the cars racing down it. 

Smoke from late afternoon campfires starting throughout the full campground. 

We arrived at 9:30 Friday night and our reserved spot, #066, we discovered was essentially a parking spot in another groups much larger combined campsite area. I should’ve assumed something was up when the host saw our reservation and replied in a hesitant mumble of acknowledgement. 

We drove back to the host and found out about the first-come-first-serve sites and since we were some of the first arrivals for the weekend we took advantage of #020 pictured here.  

We got lucky the campsite also had perfect trees for a hammock. In fact the site to the right of this photo was occupied by 2 guys who showed up and excusively slept in their hammocks and never set up a tent thanks to all the trees. 

Saturday afternoon. In some areas of the campground, flames did make it in and burned patches of trees. The problem at hand now is mud slides that have eliminated nearby trails and extra campsites up the hill.

Right after we made breakfast a friendly man drove up to us and told us about opening day for the visitor center. Live animals like this owl, a hawk , snakes and critters were on exhibit. We checked it out and talked to a few Ojai locals about the impact of the Thomas fire, how the center and campgrounds were miraculously saved by setting “back-fires” to surround the area and fight back the approaching wildfire. There was an REI CoOp booth and we had what I’d guess was a record breaking Jenga game (look how high that tower is!) and each won some REI steel cups. 

We didn’t do much, which was why we came camping. We drove into the outskirts of the town in order to get cell service for a few minutes for something and when we came back to our site we just read and laid around. It was perfect. 

Weather was as good as it could get for camping - 80 during the peak of the day and in the mid-50s at night.  

Long exposure in Ojai. what else would I write other than my Instagram name?

Easter Sunday fog in Ojai 

Ojai with Mia‘s family 

a reminder that LA can sometimes show seasonality 

I found a parking garage up the street while scouting for better photo spots that is right behind the power plant. To me this is a picture one could just pick out things the more they look at it. 

I thought I was the only one who knew about this little photo location but as I walked up somebody was giving a photography workshop and took up all the space. I used a puddle to get an interest photo and went somewhere else. 

a couple blocks from home. I had no idea there were these pools behind the power plant 

passing storm, visited the Huntington Library which I definitely am going to go back to for photos on a clear day, tried to repair holes in two wetsuits and successfully replaced the center console latch in my truck - this was causing a lot of problems for a couple years and only cost $10. 

looking out the boat on a spring day

Around the Ojai Valley Inn

Mid-March, in the final official days of winter, storms took shape and hit California as a whole. I was invited last minute by my buddy Leif to tag along for a quick trip up to Yosemite with the purpose of getting epic pictures. He rented a car with awd and we fortunately stayed inside the valley at the Majestic Yosemite hotel. This allowed us to drive around with heated seats and to different viewpoints and hiking trails. The park was probably as empty as it could ever be. 

Upper Yosemite Falls  

Sun rising somewhere behind half dome  

We hiked up to Mirror Lake

A lot of trails were closed and had too much snow so we roamed through the paths in the meadows

Saturday morning cleared up for a few hours and then more weather with snow passed though preventing us from getting any sunset photos. This is upper and lower Yosemite Falls from a meadow 

The somewhat famous church in the valley.  

some paw prints in the snow, I think we found the source. They were jumping in the air and landing nose first into the snow to find mice or something under the cold snow. 

Swinging Bridge 

Walking to the Vernall Falls trail. Another bridge with Yosemite Falls. First light and El Capitan plus Bridal Veil Falls. Hiking up to Mirror Lake. Center: Half Dome from Mirror Lake 

Comparing Saturday morning to Sunday morning from tunnel view  

I ordered a cheap polarizing filter coincidentally just before the trip. It helps my camera cut glare and pull in truer colors of sky. 

It was sunny for a few hours on Saturday which played a big part in melting the snow, I kept getting hit by ice and snow flaking off trees. Two views of the tunnel. The pulled-back view of the photographers Saturday morning. Mirror lake.  

Took a trip back around Palos Verdes and stopped at the lighthouse. It was a super clear day after rain and wind the day before and it was enough to see the Santa Barbara Channel Islands and San Nicolas island, way out there. From this spot a group of people track whale migration and we were fortunate enough to see some grey whales breach between us and Catalina Island. I’m 

There was a Holi celebration across the street from our boat at the Lagoon. I was actually waiting for this since last year because I wanted to get pictures of it. Got some! I saw a photography documentary series, Tales By Light, essentially a 2-season long Canon commercial, but one photographer was immersed in India for the holi celebrations and although I didn’t even enter the lagoon area I’m happy I got to get a better look at and photograph the activity. There’s hundreds of people covered in color powder who attend over 2 days and it’s a nice reminder of the local diversity and pride in culture. 

Went to a local park in Redondo that I previously never knew existed. We were going a little stir crazy in the boat so turned the opportunity into a picnic and then a little photography as we walked around the park. I was trying to demonstrate stuff with these pictures so I’ll leave them here. Bokeh, aperture, focal length and composition were on the lesson plan. 

Sunset in King Harbor  

Redondo Pier  

putting my tripod to good use with a long exposure shot

A lesser photographed pier in the South Bay - I think this one is getting torn down soon. 

I was really far away for this picture - across the boat launch basin and in a parking lot, but I think the composition and subject of this photo were great  

Always surprised by how many fishermen are out on the rocks all around the harbor. Spotted a really awesome classic landcruiser which deserves a spot on here somewhere.

On my walk around sunset trying to find some interesting pictures. It was really windy and I was glad to see a couple sailors going for it. 

We went up the street to a couple formal looking places like the local library and high school as a backdrop for Mia's new professional photo - which I’m really happy how it turned out. I got to use an old manual focus 55mm lens on my camera which was fun and created a nicely blurred background 

these fishermen are taking risks for their catch 

afternoon crowd at Naja’s 

Exploring slo in this car with James. I pretended I was a race car driver then I pretended I was photographing it for a magazine.  

Thankful for some amazing and thoughtful gifts: a tripod (not pictured but used for the night photo), a 70s film camera, a customized CNN vest, and beer plus soap made from beer! 

Shots from the Newport breakwall Sunday and the Redondo breakwall (I had to pumpout the boat) earlier.  

People usually don’t prefer their birthdays to be on a weekday but I saw an opportunity: use both of the weekends surrounding it to celebrate. 

Mia and I went up to San Luis Obispo the weekend before and her family made me an insanely good cake on Sunday, I got to drive a 911 turbo S as well as some scooters, and we hung out and watched the olympics.  

On my birthday, our friend Molly hosted a small dinner at her apartment and I was totally blown away by the generous and really awesome birthday presents. I felt really lucky to have spent the evening with such solid friends.  

And the following weekend, Presidents’ Day weekend, Mia and I went to Newport to hang out with Dante and Jenn who I’ve known since college and a new crew of friends I met for the first time. We cruised electric Pedego bikes around and then took a Duffy boat out during sunset. epic celebrations all around! 

Mia got me a tripod I picked out and I couldn’t wait to try it out - this was at 11pm on Saturday out in the cold.  

taken on my olympus at 60 seconds. The star trails are interesting combined with boat lifts they went speeding past on the water, and I think one plane on the horizon. The Tripp’s was on a garbage can and may have shaken a little. 

Nikon for probably its max shutter of 30 seconds, looking at the Redondo pier 

I got bored on this past Saturday night so around midnight I grabbed my mirrorless camera (olympus em10 Mark ii) as well as Mia’s DSLR (Nikon d3300) and my little tripod, I hopped on my bike and just went out In search of photos to test the differences. 

Olympus. Towards the harbor and manhattan beach from Redondo avenues.  

Nikon. At the pier  

Nikon. Trying to get the different lights shown in the sand. 

Nikon on the bike seat and of my olympus on the trash can. The stairs and tower were taken with the olympus. 

All Nikon

It was fun, I felt like I was in some stealth mission and my experience so far with these two cameras is that the Nikon feels better to carry, the grip is Bigger and feels sturdier, but at a cost of being large and taking up more space than my olympus. The olympus has more user friendly shooting modes and longer open shutter speed to gather more light, which is necessary because it is a smaller, weaker sensor size. The Nikon I think has stronger colors but can only stay open for 30 seconds which means it can’t gather as great of information in the sky, then again it’s a much larger camera sensor and stores larger files so the image is more clear if magnified. Theres also something satisfying about the cler-chunk sound of a SLR mirror flapping up and down that is missing from the shutter sound on the mirrorless camera. Luckily I can still take one or both around whether than have to choose. There’s Obviously a lot i need to learn but it’s fun to realize that picture taking doesn’t have to stop when it gets dark out, just have to be creative with the surroundings.