Luau in Wialea

Two nights ago, we finished our dinner in town and came back to the Marriott Resort where we are staying now. We heard the music from the Luau and decided to walk down and check it out. We figured that they would fence off the area, but they don't, and anyone can stand in the back and watch the performance. So I grabbed my Canon 100-400 lens and shot some pictures from the back. I got this one really cool shot of the fire dancer being lit only by his torches. Gotta love shooting at ISO 3200 with the Canon 5D Mark II.

So...the next afternoon, I walked down to the Luau area and showed the picture to the coordinators of the show and they freaked out. They told me that they were in desperate need of images for their web site and asked me if I would shoot some more. Long story short...I shot more for them and they treated us to free drinks (a very good thing) and a free Luau the following evening. Hey, that works for us!

Cable family hangs ten (okay maybe just nine)

Today we thought it would be fun to take surfing lessons. First it was just going to be Connor and Annette, but then we all decided to join in on the fun. The kids did better than us "bigger people" but we all had a great time. What? You want to see pictures of Annette and I surfing? No way...the kids have better form!

Family pictures at Napili

Well...it is our last night here on the Lahaina side of the island (before we head over to the Wailea area for 3 nights) and I wanted to get a family picture in the same spot that we used 3 years ago. We had a decent sunset as a back drop and then the rain started. Nothing major, just some drops, but enough to mess up the pictures. I had to edit out each rain drop on our clothes since it looked like we all had a bad disease. :)

An AMAZING DAY in Maui

The day started off with Connor and I driving out to a point where we could photograph big wave surfers here on Maui. But, the swells were really small this morning and there was nothing to shoot. But we did come across some of the Maui chickens and so we spent a little time photographing some of them. Then we drove back to the condo to meet up with the girls so that we could go snorkeling in one of our favorite coves.

As we drove up to the cove in the Northwest of Maui, we noticed a lot of people looking down over the cliffs watching something. We trekked down to the water and saw a large pod of dolphins swimming in the cove. I was totally blown away, and we all tried to get our equipment on as fast as possible to make the swim out to them. Swimming with the dolphins has been a life long dream of mine, and doing this in their true environment was too good to be true! As we swam out to them, they were already making their way out of the cove and I was so bummed. Then, much to my amzement, they turned around and headed our way. For almost an hour we swam with them as they came in and out of the cove. It was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!


These Spinner Dolphins were so close to us that we could almost reach out and touch them (which I was SO tempted to do, but kept my camera pointed at them and my hands off).

Connor was dieing to get a picture of him with the dolphins and we were able to get a couple of these shots.
We did not get an exact count of the dolphins in this pod but we estimated that there were between 30-40 of them.

When we got done swimming with them (and we were exhausted from all the moving around), my daughter asked me if this experience made my day. I answered "no - this made my year!"

Having more fun in Maui

This morning we got up and headed into Lahaina to take our (what has become a tradition) whale watching trip, and this 2 hour excursion did not disappoint. Even though the whale season is technically over tomorrow (April 15), nobody told the Humpback whales because they are still here. A couple whales got so close to the boat that my 400mm lens was overkill. We love watching these amazing creatures in their own habitat. These whales are the size of a school bus and yet they move so gracefully and can even breach clear out of the water. If you have never seen them up close, put it on your bucket list.
Since my friends at Sigma were kind enough to send me their 70mm macro lens the day before this trip, I had a chance to take it out and experiment a little. I love the fresh perspective that this lens brings to normal flowers and bugs. These shots were taken around the "resort" where we are staying.
This spider was all bundled up for the morning when I came across him and his web. What struck me was the great symmetry of this web.
And...oh yeah...another great sunset off in the distance (just to the left of the island of Lanai).

Vacation time in Hawaii

It was our first full day on Maui and we made the most out of it, by waking up early (since we were still on California time) and heading to the water. We went snorkeling (with the under water camera) and saw the awesome sea turtles. These turtles are really big. They range from 3 feet long to the size of a small car.
Then the kids wanted to hit the waves at a nearby spot just North of where we are staying. So off we went and everyone had a great time. After we were done with all of our activities, we were driving back to the condo and realized that it was only 2pm. I guess this is what you get accomplished when the whole family wakes up at 4:30am.

And then our first day in paradise is over and we are treated to a nice Hawaiian sunset. It was really cool to watch the whales breaching in the distance as the sun fell below the horizon. In the next couple of days we will make our whale watching trip.

Another CAS school play - Grease

Last year was the first time that I photographed the school play at my son's school and this year (even though he was not in it) we had to go and see the performance. Trust me, this is not your typical 8th grade play. The costumes, sets, acting and singing is really exceptional. This year the play was Grease and the kids really seemed to enjoy the singing and dancing from this era.

We can't wait for next year's play and Connor will have already graduated from the school - we hope! :)

Palm Springs Climbers

This was my first trip to Palm Springs, CA and I had no idea what to expect here. The town itself was OK, not too much to photograph, but myself and Dave Carlson (from Canon) had time to make a quick trip out to Joshua Tree National Park and that was really nice. Lots of cactus, big rocks and blue skies. Towards the end of our day, we saw some climbers coming down from a small peak. I had just enough time to get into position to shoot the climber coming down in between some nearby boulders. I like the way the big rocks frame the climber.

A shot that I have wanted to take for 2 years

I can not tell you how many times I have driven down Highway 280 and seen this one lone tree on this hillside, and how many times I have thought that this would make a nice picture. Well...after many years of thinking this, I finally had my camera gear in the car and was willing take the risk to pull over on the highway (during hush hour traffic) to take this. Now I can drive by this and think "OK - I got that one!".

My LARGEST image ever

One of my favorite views of San Francisco is from Twin Peaks. I grew up within a couple of miles from this point and have not been back there for a while. Since I was in the city and the weather was pretty clear (especially for SF), I made my way up the "hill" and shot some pictures. As I drove up to the peak, I knew how I wanted to shoot the images. My goal was to capture a panoramic shot of the entire city, from the Golden Gate Bridge to South San Francisco. Well...I did that. I shot 20 vertical images (handheld) and then came home and stitched them together (using Arcsoft Panorama Maker 4 Pro ) into on MASSIVE file. Yep...that is 20 images at 21 megapixels. That would make this a 400MP image that takes 450MB on my hard drive. It is so big that Photohop won't let me save it as a JPG or PSF file. The resolution is so high that I can zoom into any of the buildings downtown and have a clear image. Totally cool! The image that you see here is 4% of the original size. If you click on the image, you can see it a little better.

Taking pictures in my home town

Yesterday I had a meeting in downtown San Francisco, and with the weather being as nice as it was, I brought the camera along. I did not have a lot of free time to scoout locations, but I knew about this sculpture by the foot of the Bay Bridge and thought that it would be fun to try out the new Sigma 15mm Fish Eye lens with my Canon 5D Mark II. I have seen many pictures of this sculpture and wanted to try something different with the distortion of this lens.

Alex's Bar Mitzvah and a GREAT party

Last Saturday I made the drive up to Walnut Creek to photograph Alex's Bar Mitzvah. We had really nice weather and a Temple with really nice lighting inside. Once again, I was able to use the video capabilities of the Canon 5D Mark II to capture images in the Temple without the annoying shutter noise from the camera. And the quality of the shots from this 21MP camera is awesome.
After the service I made the trip to San Francisco to visit my mother (since I had time in between the service and the party). I was showing her the capabilities of Photoshop and how you can manipulate images. I turned this image to B&W and then brought back the color in Alex's eyes and tie. My mother was very impressed and Alex loved this picture when we projected the images at his party later that evening.
I saw this very cool piece during the Kiddush luncheon. The Rabbi poured the wine into the top and it spilled into each of the surrounding cups. In all the Temples I have worked in, I have never seen this. Always looking for the cool detail shots, this is one of my favorites.
The party...what can I say...this one rocked! "Denon and Doyle" did the entertainment and I have to say that they were amazing. It makes my job so much easier when there is cool lighting and lots of action. This party had it all, the music, the lights, the props, nice people and most of all...fun kids!

Blues Traveler

Last week, at WPPI (photography show), Nikon was nice enough to host a party and bring in the band Blues Traveler for a fun evening. I didn't shoot many pictures because...hey...I am a Canon shooter and did not want to break out my Canon camera at a Nikon party. But, I did borrow my buddy's camera and shot a couple of frames. You know, all those photographers (yes, you Mr. Moose) always say that we should have a camera with us at all times. Next time I will ask for forgiveness and bring in my camera and fire off 16GB of images. BTW - this guy can really play the harmonica!

A Great Bat Mitzvah!

Last weekend was another Mitzvah shoot for me and this time it was back up in Oakland, CA. An interesting thing happened on this particular Saturday. Usually I am not allowed to photograph in this Temple, since they do not want to deal with the sound of the camera shutter during the service. But, they do allow video capture. So...here I am...armed with my new Canon 5D Mark II which captures high def video. Hmmmmmm. I ask the Rabbi, "Can I use this camera to capture video?" and he gives me the OK to shoot. Heck, I can grab frames from high definition video and also capture images with the camera's shutter locked in the video capture mode. What a cool concept!

I mentioned that this family did it right. Not only did Aliza show poise and confidence during the service, but this family knows how to have a good time.

Check out the cake. When I first saw it, all I could think of was the TV show "Ace of Cakes" which my kids watch all the time. As it turns out, Aliza's cousins made this cake. It was totally amazing. A great photo opportunity too!

A Great Day in Yellowstone National Park

OK, let's get this out now...I am a city boy (other wise known as a flat lander) and I don't usually get a chance to see great wildlife in the SF Bay Area. Well...I guess there is some wildlife in the Bay Area but not the four legged type. :) But, this past weekend, in between shooting a National Ad for Lexar, we had some time to venture into Yellowstone National Park and photograph some of the great wildlife that calls the park home. I was especially excited to photograph the Bighorn Sheep. They are so cool looking! Even with the temperature hovering somewhere in the neighborhood of -4 degrees Fahrenheit, we stood below the mountainside for over an hour shooting images of these guys. It was probably a good thing that they went back up the mountainside after an hour, otherwise I might have gotten frostbite on my "city boy" face.