First Maui

Ok, Maui's kinda beautiful. I wish more people had heard of this place! Good first day here, although we're both kinda wiped out after flying and driving. More to come.

Maui Bound

Tomorrow my wife and I leave for a week long vacation in Maui! We are celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary and, for the first time in 11 and half years, we will be spending more than two nights without our kids. We love our kids very much, but this is gonna be awesome! Neither of us have ever been to Hawaii, so this is quite an adventure. I want to thank all of our friends and family for their great advice on accommodations and sights to see.

Right, photography blog. As you might imagine I plan to take some pictures. I can't take everything I own, so I've had to pair things down to one bag. My tripod will have to ride in checked baggage, but otherwise this is what I'm taking.

What's in the bag: Canon 5D MkII with 24-105L lens attached, Canon 7D body, 50mm 1.4, 16-35L 2.8, 70-200L f4, Canon intervelometer for time-lapse recording, Zoom H4n audio recorder, LED headlamp for nighttime work. Not seen: GoPro Hero video camera, polarizing filter, graduated neutral density filter, assorted neutral density filters, flashlight, extra 8GB CF card, spare camera battery, Canon AC power adapter for extended time-lapse recording, lens cloth, battery charger, iPad camera connection kit, card reader.

Whew, I'm outta breath. While not everything I own, it's close. I mean, how many chances do you get to go to Hawaii?! I hope to be posting some images during the trip, but can't say that there will be any regular schedule. If you have an iPhone, I'll be posting from Instagram often. You can follow me (fxmixer). I'll also be putting out updates on Twitter @fxmixer. Off to the islands!

Grand Reflection

Taken by the third floor pool at the San Diego Grand Hyatt. Did I mention that sunset is a great time to take pictures? ;)

Sweet Motion

San Diego YMCA

Whirling Dancer

We went to an Ethiopian restaurant called Messob this weekend to celebrate a friends' birthday. We know them through Ethiopian adoption, so it seemed fitting! The owner of the restaurant is a friend to us all (thanks Getahun!) so it was more like getting together for dinner at a good friends' house. One of the highlights of the evening was watching an Ethiopian dancer perform. The dancing is so unique and expressive that I wanted to try and capture some of the movement and energy of it.

Have a great week!

Fall Creek

Ok, it's totally turned into Yosemite in the Fall week. I was going back through one of my albums and rediscovered a bunch of images. This was taken along Bridalveil Creek.

Orange Crush

Staying in Yosemite, here's a picture from a few years back taken amidst the Fall colors. I said "amidst", hehe. Makes the picture sound fancy.

Sunset Square

Ah Yosemite. No place like it on earth. I just pulled off the side of the road on our way back to the cabin and this was my view. Beautiful and humbling.

The wait is over

In honor of the final Harry Potter film being released today I'm serving up a trio of images from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando. It is a must see for any dedicated Potter fan. The Butter Beer is amazing!

The Bank Heist

The second in my series of Legos in Peril. I'm slightly embarrassed to say that this is the most complex Photoshop creation I've ever made. 26 layers of elements and adjustments make this up. It is very rewarding though, as I had a concept in mind and was able to see it all the way through. And hey, any excuse to play with Legos works for me!

If you want to see it in better detail, click here.

Morning Friend

I found this cute kitty on a walk around the neighborhood. The friendliest little guy you could hope to meet.

Lap Pool

This is the lap pool and the Grand Del Mar Resort. I wanna go back.

Fireworks

Sorry for the light posting week. I finished a film this week and it was crunch time. Today, I finally got a chance to go through my 4th of July pictures and pick out a few that I liked.

@chasejarvis I made a little something for your shoot tomorrow.

A new day breaks

I hope everyone (in the U.S.) had a great holiday. Back to work today and looking forward to a great week.

Happy 4th of July!

Have a safe and happy 4th!

Peeking Through

Friday! 3 day weekend!! Sorry about the lack of post yesterday, work's been biz-ay lately. I got off my butt this morning and took a walk around the neighborhood and tried to find things that I hadn't photographed before. Constraints lead to creativity. Give yourself some constraining guidelines (only vertical, a color, just nature, just people, etc.) and get out there.