HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Clouds Abstracts

A few cloud abstracts to finish out the year.  I want to thank everyone who's stuck with my blog this year through all of its' neglect.  I've gotten back to shooting more lately so I hope to be making more regular posts in the new year.  Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve!

Happy Birthday Haven!

He's a teenager now.  I'm officially an old man.  Love that boy.

This picture came from our last trip to Yosemite.  As we hiked along the trail to Mirror Lake, Haven became emotional about the peace and serenity that he was experiencing.  A love for his family and this place swelled up in him.  I said I wanted to make an image of his feelings.  I told him I'd get ready and he could do anything he wanted.  Eyes closed, head lifted, hands out, suspended in the moment.

Merry Christmas!!

From our family to yours.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 7th Birthday to my beautiful baby girl.

@gouncledaddy here's a lil' something for your holiday show.

Animation work

Here's a fun little animation I put together with the help of Nick at greyscale gorilla and his awesome tutorials.  The song is "Relax My Beloved" by Alex Clare.  For a slightly large version click HERE.

Relax My Beloved from fxmixer on Vimeo.

Foggy Palm

Been almost a month since my last post.  For those of you still checking back, thank you.  I got inspired to go out and do some shooting last night.  A thick fog rolled into the neighborhood and I thought it would be a good chance to make some moody/atmospheric images.  I took very few images, but it was so good to get out.

Happy Halloween

Hey Jaguar F Type, Maserati GT called and wants it's nose back.

Endeavour

Well.  Some of you may have noticed that I've been quiet these past few weeks (months).  I always try and keep things upbeat and positive on this blog, but I'm afraid that I haven't had upbeat or positive inside of me for a while.  My family and I have been struggling with some serious issues lately and I've felt neither creative or energetic.  If you want to know more about the specifics of what we've been going through, you can read the beautiful post that my wife just made. CLICK HERE to read it.

Ok, on to pictures.  I had the great fortune of being off work this past Friday (Sept. 21).  Fortunate because the Space Shuttle Endeavour was completing the last leg of it's trip from Florida to L.A. that day.  I had been keeping up with it's trip off and on, but when I realized it would be arriving on Friday I lept into "where can I go, what should I shoot with mode".  The where ended up being The Getty Center.  Realizing that many in L.A. would be excited about seeing this flight, The Getty Center opened their doors an hour earlier that day to allow people to get a good view point.  The Shuttle was going to make a looping trip around the city, and one of the places it was supposed to pass close to was The Getty.  I got there when they opened and despite having to wait until after 11:30 for the Shuttle to pass, it was totally worth it.  I had a view that spanned from the ocean to downtown.  Here's a panorama courtesy of my iPhone and the fancy new panorama feature.  CLICK HERE to see a larger version.



I brought two cameras with me;  my 5dMk2 and my 7D.  On the 5D I had my trusty 24-105 lens and on the 7D I had the 70-200 2.8.  I wasn't sure how close it would come, so I wanted to cover my bases.  It turned out that I only needed the 70-200 because it didn't come face-smacking close.  It was a bit hazy and there were a lot of heat waves rising up, but I managed to get some clear pictures when it was close.  It was a privilege to witness it, made all the better by being able to capture a few images of this once in a lifetime event.

Into the unknown...

As a bonus, here's a little something I worked up in Adobe After Effects. Not bad for starting with a sill image, eh?

Hollywood Hussle

Astronaut Curiosity

My younger son was all about space and planets yesterday, and of course the Curiosity rover on Mars.  I told him that we could fly there and visit the rover.  Here's a postcard from our trip.

Chain and shadow

Light at the end

This is actually the light at the end of the tunnel.  This underground tunnel connected to sections of the Lalibela church complex.  After walking in complete darkness with about a hundred other people for 10 minutes, this light was quite welcome.  Not that I mind getting to know people, but the crying baby in front of me and the uneven floor conspiring to trip me at every step made this a walk that couldn't have ended soon enough.

iPhone Friday

My whip.

Well hello

Hello, and good morning.

Parting the sea (of people)

Having some fun with an image from Lalibela.

The perfect moment

Sometimes you just want to remember a single moment forever.

Curiosity

Today I'm hijacking my own blog to bring you science news.  Last night/this morning the Mars rover Curiosity landed on Mars.  This is certainly not the first time that we've successfully landed a rover on Mars, but this is by far the largest and most complex one that we've ever sent.  The size of it also dictated a risky and never-before-tried landing sequence.  You can see an animation of the landing sequence below.



Incredible, right?  I watched the live NASA feed of the Entry, Descent and Landing last night via their iPad app.  Live of course meant watching the control room at JPL as the scientist and engineers received telemetry from the rover.  When the mission controller calmly announced touchdown on Mars, the room erupted.  My heart almost burst with excitement and pride.  Pride not just as an American whose NASA organization sent this rover, but pride as a human being that there are those among us who can dream this big and then have the knowledge and skill to make it happen.  I wasn't alive when men landed on the moon, so I don't know what that felt like, but having experienced this unmanned mission live I can only imagine that excitement.  And then, only 15 minutes after landing, Curiosity sent a picture of it's shadow on the surface of Mars.  Incredible.



When thinking about the meaningfulness of this kind of endeavor, I was reminded of a talk given by Carl Sagan about the importance of the lunar landings.  Here's a recording of that.



Thanks for humoring me with my deviation for normal programming, but I felt this was important enough to shine a light on.  Have a great week!

The narrow way

Red with window

Kung Fu

I helped my younger son cut together a movie that he shot for his Apple Movie Camp class.  The whole family got in on it and had a lot of fun.

iPhone Friday

Canyon of clouds.

Dappled Light

Collision Course

Window Washer

Seamusaur

Today's post comes in video form.  My younger son is always dressing up and acting scenarios that he's dreamed up.  When he got a pair of pterodactyl wings from the Natural History museum and started running around like he was flying, I had an idea.  So, I set up my 7D on a tripod in the backyard and filmed him at 60 frames/second doing his thing.  Not content with just his personal brand of craziness, I took the footage into After Effects and spiced it up a bit.  This took an embarrassingly long time to finish because I was basically starting from scratch in After Effects.  In the end though I learned a ton and put a smile on my boy's face.  Please to enjoy.

iPhone Friday + 3D!

I thought I'd throw in a 3D image that I made recently as a value-add.  Have a great weekend!

Sacred wall

Lalibela, Ethiopia

Parallel Sky

Morning walk

I got to work a bit early this morning, so I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood.  All images processed with Instagram.

1000!!

Today is my 1000th post!  I wanted to take a minute to thank all of you faithful readers for your comments and support.  My posting has been sporadic at time, especially lately, but I can see by the stats that their is a small but consistent readership.  Thank you.

Taking a drink

Scientific name butterflyus most-cutest.

Morning commute

Morning commute, Lake Tana style.

Meat Eaters

At the L.A. Natural History Museum's new dinosaur exhibit.

Happy 4th!

Hope everyone has a happy and safe day!

Howling at the Moon