These are my stories. Some may be new, some may be old, but I hope you will find them all interesting.
The solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 came and went in about two minutes at any given place along the path of totality, which stretched from Oregon to South Carolina. In January we decided to do the insane – drive hundreds of miles for a two minute event, then drive …
Shell Creek Road off of Highway 58 east of Santa Margarita can almost always be counted on for a good show of wildflowers. I took a drive out on Saturday, March 30th and was not disappointed. This video showing the abundance of flowers (and people) on Shell Creek Road was …
Using Brainy Lantern’s slingShot Brainy Lantern’s slingShot is an excellent remote control tool for your DSLR. I use it on an Android, but they also make an IOS version for your iPad or iPhone. Both versions support WiFi cameras such as my D7200 and the Android version also supports connecting …
Bags My Standard Walkaround Set I usually cary a lot of stuff. Some might say too much, but when I travel I want to be ready for anything. Sometimes, if I know I will not need a lens longer than 140mm, I might leave the big lens behind. I don’t …
It was 1989 and I had just picked up my first SLR and lens, a used Nikon EM and a used Sigma Standard Zoom 35-70 f/3.5. (For reference, a 35-70 on a 35mm film camera would be the equivalent to about a 55-105mm lens on a DX digital camera.) This …
I shot this photo of the Margarita Mercantile in Santa Margarita, California. This is one of my favorites, and the story that goes with it is even better. So there I was, minding my own business taking photos of a freshly painted store at 10:30pm on a Thursday night when …
Past Cameras When I moved to digital SLRs, I returned to Nikon because of the familiarity – and so I could still borrow lenses from my brother. I moved back to the SLR world in 2007 with my first “D”, the Nikon D40,Nikon’s entry-level DSLR. This was a sweet little …
Where The End of the World Might Have Started The Titan Missile Museum was once ICBM Site 571-7, a former Titan II nuclear missile silo in Green Valley, Arizona, located just a few miles south of Tucson. I discovered it while looking for somewhere where I could drive to and …
The Film Age My very first camera was an Aires Viscount rangefinder camera that I inherited from my brother in 1989. This late 1950s-era camera was a fully mechanical beastie with no buillt-in light meter. If you think a modern DSLR is hard to figure out, try using one of …
2018 has been a whirlwind of activity and unexpected twists and turns. We stayed close to home for the most part, just a couple of minor California road trips, but we kept ourselves pretty busy. It was our most unplanned year of travel so far – we did a lot …
We arrived in San Francisco the afternoon of Wednesday the 21st of December. We arrived early, so before checking into our hotel we headed over to the Holy Virgin Cathedral Russian Orthodox Church on the recommendation of the wise people of the Internet as an interesting place to see. As we walked by we noticed that the front door was open and stepped inside. The church was full of people, both in the main sanctuary as well as an outer vestibule. We stood and watched the service with interest. After a time, the service seemed to be closing down and…
Morro Bay is a small fishing community located on the Pacific ocean half way between San Francisco and Los Angeles. It’s probably best known for it’s landmark volcanic cone, Morro Rock, at the harbor entrance and perhaps only slightly less known for the three tall stacks of the old power plant at the harbor’s edge. Morro Rock is a 581-foot high volcanic plug, the hardened remnants of magma that was inside a volcano over 20 million years ago. Over time the rest of the volcano eroded away leaving the relatively tiny Morro Rock behind…
