Welcome to the Hotel California (More pictures)

[pointandshoot]

Well, kinda. Burned out surfer in airpoirt playiing that song on a ukulele.

Been hanging out in San Diego and Coronado on spring break. Sun was warm and the drinks were cool. Thought I would toss out a few vacation picts. Chuck.

San Diego Marina

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HDR from hotel room at the Hotel Del Coronado.

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Relaxing on the balcony.

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[JoeDif]

Cool images!! Really great light in #1

[AbbysFamily]

That last shot is BRILLIANT.. and I like the pp frame.

[pointandshoot]

Thanks. SHot was with evening light with a touch of blue/gold filter to draw out the sky and evening lights.

A few more from Coronado.

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[10dedfish]

That looks like Pt. Loma in the distance! Great shots, I go to San Diego several times a year for business, and I always enjoy it. If you get the chance, try the pizza joint right down the street (Chicago Pizza I think), it rocks!

Great shots once again, you really pulled off some challenging shots. Especially the silhouettes on the beach.

Good job!

Matt

[pointandshoot]

That looks like Pt. Loma in the distance! Great shots, I go to San Diego several times a year for business, and I always enjoy it. If you get the chance, try the pizza joint right down the street (Chicago Pizza I think), it rocks!

Great shots once again, you really pulled off some challenging shots. Especially the silhouettes on the beach.

Good job!

Matt

Thanks Matt! What struck me was how much cooler the evening light was when I was shooting. I have seen these "washed" looking surf pictures from California. The combination of the backlighting, mist in the air, etc. really lends itself to these style of shots. Next time I really want to focus on that style.

Noticed the Currituck local. I usually hang out in Frisco, NC in the summer and fall. The Cape Hatteras sunsets seem more golden and fire up the sky more than what I have seen on my trips to San Diego. The first day I shot there was a failure. I had to rethink my approach to fit the place. THe fog on the horizon can dampen the light quickly and mute color. I like the effect.

I plan to post some more stuff later.

[Evad]

Very nice!!! Love the chairs on the beach shot. :thumbsup2

[KCmike]

The Hotel Del is an amazing place. That beach is wonderful as well. We visited it two years ago and my wife and kids talk about it all the time. Need to get back there soon. Thanks for the pictures. If you have anymore keep em coming.

[10dedfish]

Yeah, the evening shots there are challenging to say the least. I usually dont get to do the evening shots, as my work hours are rather fluid when Im out there. I did grab a great shot of the skyline the last time I was out there. Let me see if I can find it...aah here it is:

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/mattnshy/IMG_5130.jpg

Battery Island is a great place for night shots of the cityscape, but you have to time it in between the airplanes coming in for a landing.

Matt

[pointandshoot]

The Hotel Del is an amazing place. That beach is wonderful as well. We visited it two years ago and my wife and kids talk about it all the time. Need to get back there soon. Thanks for the pictures. If you have anymore keep em coming.

Thanks. My wife and I were chatting during the trip about the first time we walked around the place. I was on a business trip and we literally had nothing. We hoped one day we could spend just one night there. It is really a special place to us and we felt fortunate to be able to visit with our daughter. They are running some deals right now. Time to go!

Back to the pictures.

We spent one day at the Wild Animal Park. It is part of the San Diego Zoo that is located about 30 mins from the city. A beautiful place with large animal enclosures. It is used for perservation and breeding of animals. We took the Photo Tour.

The tour was an additional cost per person and lasted 2 hours. On the back of an open air, covered truck, we drove into the enclosures with a zoo keeper. About 10-12 people was all that was on the tour. We had a chance to feed giraffes and rhinos. The truck would stop for 5 -10 minutes and you could enjoy the animals while moving around in the truck. I think Disney has a similiar tour for about 3 times the price (go figure, huh). If you do the tour, I suggest two camera bodies. One with a telephoto lens and the other with a wide angle for up close animal encounters. The enclosures are very dusty when the wind blows and you need to move quickly when action happens.

Daughter feeding giraffes and rhinos.

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My daughter loves to shoot pictures of animals. I love shooting pictures with her no matter the subject. However, I am getting bored shooting traditional zoo animal shots. So I started to play with more abstract images to keep my head into it. These are two examples. I need to process the images a bit more to define the birds legs more and reduce the contrast some. Comments always welcome.

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I have been trying to shift away being so drilled in trying to make every image sharp. Instead, go for more painter, soft style for images.

This first is a shot of surfers from the beaches at sunset. Slow shutter, high blur. The second image is from my daughter in Old Town. While I was focused on the golden light, she had a cool capture of the band play. Enjoy and thanks all for the comments.

Chuck

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