sunny sausalito…
Wow…I can’t believe its been a month and a half since my last post!!!! So much going on! I’m officially in the thick of my fourth (and last!) year of med school. Rotations have been keeping me super-busy, as well as studying for the USMLE Step 2….and working on residency applications! So, its 11:30 on a Saturday night and I’m missing my photoblog and I actually have a few spare minutes to post a post!
So, back to the California trip series of photos! This shot was taken from our lunch table at Bar Bocce in Sausalito (right across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco) the day we arrived in California. Not a bad view to enjoy with a bite, eh? A nice leisurely lunch to fortify ourselves for what would become an amazing (and mildly frightening) drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Rosa!!!
By the way, did I mention that I didn’t realize we were driving across the Golden Gate Bridge until we were halfway across in our rented red Prius (what else would we drive in California? A Corvette convertible? Yup, had that booked for our trip until we realized that the trunk would hold ONE carry-on suitcase…so not-compatible with a week-long trip encompassing about three climates.)…at which point I started squealing with glee (which I did quite a lot on this trip). Sorry, Jay. You didn’t need to hear out of your right ear, did you? Nah…you can be a great pharmacist with one ear.
So, obviously the photo was taken with the Canon Powershot G12. I officially was on vacation with my two loves: el boyfriendo and the camera (shall I name it Cameron?).
Stay tuned for more (hopefully more frequent) posts…I have so much to share!!!
rockin’ rockies…
I almost forgot to post this one first!!! Obviously, we had to fly over the Rocky Mountains to get to California, but I was beyond excited about this. See, getting to see a “rocky” mountain (as opposed to the “softer” Appalachians out East) was one of the things on my “Must Eventually Accomplish/See In Life” list. What better way to start a trip than to tick off an item on that bucket list?? Little did I know that it would be the first of many tick-marks made on this trip!
A little info on the photo: Taken at 37,000 feet with the maximum zoom on the Canon G12. I used Adobe Photoshop CS5 to make the photo black and white to bring out all of the detail in the mountains. A very excellent few hours of flying: sandwiched between a view of the Rockies and a boyfriend who thought my continuous excited squeals about seeing them were endearing and not annoying.
If you’re going to San Francisco…
Well, world…I finally did it! I crossed the USA to the other coast!!! Think of it as East meets West…coast, that is. My friend from med school was getting married in Santa Rosa (shout-out to the happy couple!), so Jay and I figured, heck, if we’re going that far away, we might as well make a vacation out of it!!! Thus ensued a week of fun in the sun!
Our amazing itinerary was as follows:
Land in San Francisco (got to see the Rockies & Yosemite from the plane!)–> eat lunch in Sausalito–> drive up the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) to Santa Rosa–> Wedding!–>Trek to Sonoma Lake in Napa Valley plus some wine tasting in the Napa Valley 
–>Drive to San Francisco–> Sight-see!!! Take Photos!!! Quality BF-GF time!!!–> Drive to Pillar Point Beach to collect sea glass–> Drive south on Hwy 1 to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur (stay tuned for the amazing views from here)–> Continue on Hwy 1 until encounter massive landslide–> take 4 hour detour through a military base at the top of a mountain range (via a one lane road clinging to the edge of the mountain…without a guardrail)–> finally arrive in Long Beach, CA and stay on the Queen Mary for the night (!)–>Ferry to Avalon, Catalina Island!!–> ZIPLINE 500 feet above ground between mountain summits (!)–> beach–> LAX–> Home (got to see the Grand Canyon from the plane!)
Soooooo much fun!! I’ll try to post photos in the approximate order that I took them so I can slowly tell the story of my travels This one is out of order, though, as I will be posting a photo of the Rockies (so excited to finally see real “rocky” mountains, not the worn (but pretty) tree-covered mountains of the East).
Can’t wait to share my trip and photos with you! I truly believe it is impossible to take a bad photo in California!
Quick story behind this photo: En route to Sausalito, I realized that we were driving across the Golden Gate Bridge. After many squeals of excitement that may have left Jay partially deaf in the right ear, I started snapping photos like a mad woman. Luckily I got a nice skyline shot. The Bay Bridge is at the left-most edge of the photo. Naturally, there was a ton of fog in the Bay, so I adjusted the contrast in Photoshop CS5 to sharpen up the photo. Taken with the Canon Powershot G12!
ENJOY AND STAY TUNED!!!!
new look for a new year…
Here’s my new look for 2011! Hope you like it as much as I do! And check out my new page of photography quotes, which will slowly grow as the year wears on.
P.S. Shout-out to the boyfriend for snapping the photo that was cropped into the header of the page. Great shot, Jay! And yes, that is me wearing my camera bag in the photo. And that cliff was very high up. And there was no “guardrail”…we hiked outside of the guardrail to climb onto the ledge. Smart? Probably not. Exhilarating? Definitely. Windy? Like all get-out.
Taken at Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia! What a wonderful day of extreme hiking and waterfall hunting! More photos to follow!
Uncropped version, to give Jay credit for great composition:
surf’s up…
So, this photo is the first in a series I will be posting featuring people as subjects. I’m excited, as I usually do landscapes/macro/anything-but-people!
I took this photo while at the Jersey Shore over the summer with my boyfriend (see previous post for more another product of that trip). Avalon Beach was lovely, fairly empty with lovely water. I love to body surf, so I was quite content. Some areas had larger waves that surfers were taking full advantage of. I was lucky enough to snap this shot, right as the surfer hit the top of the wave. It wasn’t until I looked at the larger image of the photo on my computer that I realized he was also touching the top of the wave. Cool stuff.
So, anyhoo, this shot was taken with the Canon Powershot G7. Contrast was fixed with Adobe Photoshop CS3.
Surf’s up!!
a stroll down memory lane…
Autumn is my favorite time of the year. It makes me want to study for hours on end in coffee shops. I love pulling out my cozy sweaters. The crunching of the leaves on the ground makes me feel like a little kid without a care in the world. And yes, at the age of 24, if presented with a pile of leaves, I will still jump in and play.
There’s a certain ‘feeling’ in the fall and it just makes me feel happy inside. Whenever I need that feeling at other times during the year, I’ll take a look at this photo. My boyfriend and I embarked on a fall photo shoot in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, and this was one of my favorites. Looking at it evokes that happy autumn feeling and the feeling of contentment that comes with strolling down a colorful leaf-laden path with someone you love…
Taken with an Olympus Stylus 82o and processed as an HDR image to help bring out the vibrancy in the leaves. Enjoy the fall! Get a nice mug of cider, step outside, and breathe in the sweet brisk air that will slowly bring in the winter!
bunches of boats…
“Twelve little boats, sitting in a row
Each colorful one with a rope in tow.
Docked for the day and dark starry night
Ready to depart at dawn’s first golden light.”
Okay, okay, perhaps its a cheesy little poem, but whatever. I’m in an artsy mood. I even arranged “Streets of Philadelphia” for SATB a cappella on Sunday with the boyfriend. Photos and poems and songs, oh my!!
Anyhoo, this photo was taken with the amazing Canon G7 next to the fishing pier in Puerto Morelos, Mexico (right in front of the old lighthouse). All of the boats were moored for the night and I was stunned by how much colorful character they all had. That translated to a boat photoshoot! To help you create a better mental image of the Puerto Morelos fishing pier, if you faced the pier (looking out to the ocean), these boats were to the left and the previously-posted pelican was to the right! Alright, here’s the pier:
The boat photo was cropped to remove the gargantuan dead fish that was on the beach and was then post-processed to an HDR photo! Enjoy!!!!!!
have i told you lately that…
This one goes out to the one I love (sorry for the REM quote). Some say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think this one says precisely three. THE three little words. My wonderful boyfriend (of over 3 years!) and I embarked on an adventure out to the Jersey Shore on Friday. I love the beach. I love my boyfriend. I was ridiculously happy. Anyhoo, the water was wonderful, particularly for body surfing, and lounging in the sunshine was simply delightful. He fried to a wonderful lobster-red shade, I turned a lovely golden brown. Ah, the wonders of sunblock. Towards the end of the day, I noticed that the clouds were simply beautiful overhead and I got an idea. I had seen silhouette “writing” somewhere and I thought it would be a cute surprise for the aforementioned man in my life (who will willingly watch the Bachelorette with me while enjoying Chinese take-out and ice cream) if I did a little sky writing myself. The people behind me on the beach obviously thought I was nuts as I kept making contorted hand shapes in the air and then snapping pictures of them, but oh, what one will do for love.
So, now for the specs: Six pictures taken against a beachy sky with the Canon Powershot G7. Compiled and contrast-enhanced in Photoshop to really make my hand-letters pop. Size of final image reduced in Photoshop because the original compilation was over 3oo inches long and my computer was visibly having trouble handling and touching up such a massive photo. Enjoy.
