Cal State Long Beach Baseball vs UC Santa Barbara

Another first for me, this past Saturday I covered my first college baseball game, which I think went very well.

What does one do when they go to a new location to cover a game, well for me I like to get better familiar with my surroundings and locate potential spots where I will be shooting from. So for starters I located Cal State's SID (Sports Information Director) and introduced myself and obtained information regarding shooting locations, I then went to these spots to see how they would look.

Once the game started I began my shooting at the visitor side picnic area, which is located just past the dugout and third base. After a couple of innings I moved to some box seats that are reserved for alumni. Now I was only at this location for 1/2 an inning when I was approached by security asking who I was and if I had a ticket. I identifed myself and who I was shooting and was then told I can't stay in the boxed seating area. Now I was advised by the SID that I could shoot from these seats, but since this was my first time here I simply said sorry and moved back to the picnic area, but prior to this I was told that they don't mind me shooting from the seats for a few shots, they just don't want me staying there. So I simply apoligized and moved back to the picnic area.

I then moved to the box seats directly behind the catcher / pitcher and got a few shots from that location before moving to the stands on the home team side where I shot for two innings.

So in the end I learned the ropes as to where I could go and go a little bit more comfortable with the area and shooting this team. Next time I will be more relaxed and just do my thing.

So enjoy the shots.

Bolsa Chica Wetlands

After years of getting up early for work I will normally get up during the early hours and usually go back to sleep, especially on my days off. This past Wednesday I woke up at 5:45 am and simply decided to get up and hit bolsa chica wetlands for some quite time and bird photography. Although it was overcast I wasn't disappointed. It was a great morning to be out. Now there weren't a bunch of terns, but those that were out would fly and often land on the bridge railings chirping with some having the occasional fish in their beak. So this first group of shots is from that.

After spending some time with the terns I moved to the tree line to see what I could find. Although there wasn't much activity, I did get lucky enough to see a harrier hawk flying low along the brush in search for breakfast. I wasn't able to get the shots I really wanted, but I did leave with a few keepers.

Bridge to nowhere

First a little history on the "Bridge to Nowhere"

"The Bridge to Nowhere is one of the most bizarre artifacts to be found in the San Gabriel Mountains. Back in the 1920s, Los Angeles County planned to build a highway all the way up the East Fork canyon to the Mine Gulch Bridge to Nowhere Junction. From there the road would climb over Blue Ridge and drop down into Wrightwood. It would be among the most scenic roads in America. Construction began in 1929, most of the work being done by County prison work crews. By the mid-1930s the highway had reached The Narrows (2800ft) where the East Fork flows through a very deep gorge, the deepest in Southern California. There it was necessary to construct a concrete bridge high above the waters of the gorge. A tunnel was also chiseled out of sheer rock. However, the winter after this difficult construction task had been completed, an unprecedented storm arrived on March 1-2, 1938, depositing many inches of rain on the San Gabriel Mountains. The result was a tremendous flood that roared down the East Fork, obliterating everything in its path including more than five miles of the painstakingly constructed highway. Only the bridge was high enough above the waters to be virtually untouched. The futility of the project having been so emphatically demonstrated, the County abandoned their plans leaving a brand new concrete road bridge standing alone in the middle of the wilderness more than five miles from the nearest highway. It became a popular destination for hikers who dubbed it the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’."

My first time doing this hike was actually when I was a boy scout and our troop was attempting to hike to swan rock, which is midway on the trail to the bridge. This was during the winter months and the water level was pretty high. While hiking along the trail we came upon a portion of the river that was simply to deep and fast to cross, so we made camp at there for a few days before returning.

I didn't make the hike again until I was an adult and married and made the trek several times during different times of the year. Even though its 5 miles one way, its probably one of my favorite hikes. I find the hike very relaxful and somewhat simple. The trail stays pretty level (on the most part) with only a few spots where one would have to climb or walk up very short steep portions of the trail, but the best part is the stream, which is a great way to cool off when needed. The highlight of this hike is the bridge of course. Once at the bridge I will often hike to the water below to relax along the fast moving stream while having lunch - makes for a great day.

This brings us to the present. I was currently on vacation and my son and I wanted to do something together, so we decided to go for a hike and picked the bridge as our destination, but I thought it would be nice to invite my niece and nephew, who have never been on a hike before. After an early morning wake up and a 1 1/2 hour drive we were ready to start our trek to the bridge to nowhere. We had a great time hiking to the bridge and I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted, but I did take some, which you'll see below. The one thing I did that I wanted to do was to try some HDR. You'll find my favorite one at the end of this post. I did a color and b&w version of the shot to share.

Clackamas Dance/Drill - United Spirit Association Dance/Drill Nationals

A friend of mine was heading out this way, well to Anaheim to be exact, for the United Spirit Association Dance/Drill Nationals. My friends daughter has been involved in dance/drill for some time now and we both have exchanged information on sports action photography, so we discussed about me coming out to photograph the girls in action.

I have shoot cheer/drill/dance before, but it is a very unique occurrence and very infrequent, but I do take great pride in being able to capture the shots. Now the question is what type of action am I looking for. Do I keep it wide and get general action or do I bring out the big gun and shoot tight. Well I decided to try a combination, although I was leaning with keeping it tight.

Yesterday (Saturday) were the prelims with today being the finals. So I covered the girls prelim routine, which I have to say was tough. I'm trying to capture the action on a routine I've never seen before, so I had no idea with what they were going to do. I was basically letting my observation and reaction dictate what I was going to shoot. Unfortunately the girls didn't make the finals. I do have to say with I was happy with the end result and felt that keeping it tight was better for what I was looking for.

Thanks a bunch for the opportunity to come out and cover your girls my friend - you know who your are.