Thirty Years of Photography (Part IV 2015-2019)

First off, I want to apologize for being so late on this last installment in my Thirty Years of Photography series – I had originally planned on having this all up by September of 2019. But then I went off to Yellowstone and had those 2,000 photos to dig through, and I decided that it would be best to put the new stuff up before continuing on this series. Well, September’s culling of images turned into October of editing, November of writing titles and descriptions (the hardest and least enjoyable part of photography for me,) and then there were holidays and before I knew it 2020 had arrived.

I’ll admit that I cheated a bit on this last installment. Since I started this website at the end of 2018 I had already written a 2018 in review and since this is a 30-year series that started in 1989, 2019 really doesn’t count because that would be the 31st year. You can, of course, see all of 2019 photos in my “Latest Uploads” blog posts.

Be sure to read PART ONE (1989-1999), PART TWO (2001-2009), and PART THREE (2010-2015) of my Thirty Years of Photography Series if you haven’t already.

So as they say, without further ado, I present the last entry in my Thirty Years of Photography series.

The Year Two Thousand and Fifteen

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

In January of 2015 we were looking for a day trip, and we found it in a three-hour drive to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. The museum’s proximity to us and the promise of seeing one of the few Air Force One aircraft that are on display inspired us to go. As a bonus, when we visited the world renowned Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles was closed for renovations and they had lent some of their rarest cars to the Reagan Library.

Charles Paddock Zoo – Atascadero, California

Closer to home, the town of Atascadero, California, is home to a small zoo that I visit from time to time. Zoo photos are tough because I don’t want them to look like snapshots in a zoo, so I usually go for the close-up shots.

New England Cruise

Things went downhill for me in Sydney, Nova Scotia. We got off the ship and entered a peddler’s fair where locals were selling their crafts. I wasn’t feeling too good, and by the time we left I had to sit down on a bench outside. I sent my companion to find a bathroom, but before she returned I had to make a run for a dumpster. Unfortunately for me (and the sorry soul who had to deal with the aftermath) the lit was closed, and I only managed to open it a few inches before – well, lets just say my breakfast was left mostly on the lid. I returned to the ship, crawled into bed, and sent my friend on her way to explore the town without me. I make it a point to get a souvenir from each ship we travel on. I have three ship-shaped Christmas ornaments from prior cruises, on this cruise my trinket was a specimen cup cheerfully provided by the medical staff. I spent two days in bed (well, except for frequent trips to the head,) but by the morning of the third day I was feeling well enough that I was cleared to leave our cabin. I went to Cap-aux-Meules, Quebec, but this time my companion was the one who stayed in bed. That worked out, because she managed to avoid the brunt of the disease (although we’re pretty sure she got a mild case.) By the time we got to Saguenay we were both back up to speed.

Avila Beach, California

As you can tell I’ve done a lot of traveling, places that you’ve read about already and other places you’ll soon see. But of all the things I’ve traveled the world to see, the most amazing of them all was only a thirty minute drive from home when migrating humpback whales paid a visit to Avila Beach, California.

The RMS Queen Mary and San Diego California

In late 2015 we took a couple of road trips south. The first to spend a night on the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, and the other to San Diego.

Two Thousand and Sixteen

Lick Observatory – Near San Jose, California

With my family living in the Bay Area, we often find ourselves in San Jose. This year started with a visit to the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton just east of San Jose. It has expanded from the original building to include a mountaintop of domes.

Florida Road Trip

For my 49th birthday in February we flew to the land of alligators and spaceships – Florida – where we rented a car for a week. Here are a couple of photos from that trip, but for many more plus the story of our road trip, see my 2016 Florida Adventure blog post. (But don’t leave now…I’ll have links to this and other stories at the bottom of this page.)

Merced National Wildlife Refuge

Another day-trip from home is the Merced National Wildlife Refuge. This refuge is one of the premier birding locations in California, and it’s where thousands of sandhill cranes, Ross’s geese, and snow geese (along with ducks, raptors, and others) come for the winter. You can always count on seeing lots of long lenses, spotting scopes, and binoculars at the refuge

Santa Margarita, California

Another great local locale is Santa Margarita. This is a small western town along Highway 58 that seems like you can drive through in about two minutes, but once you leave “downtown” Santa Margarita seems to go out into the hills forever. Shell Creek Road, about 20 miles from downtown, is well-known for it’s extraordinary bloom of wildflowers each spring. Many come to enjoy the view, others to just play among the pretty colors.

Morro Bay, California

The town of Morro Bay takes advantage of the winds coming off the Pacific Ocean to host an annual kite festival. Just make sure you choose your lens carefully, this is not a place where you want to be changing lenses and exposing your sensor the blowing sand.

Alaska Cruise & Road Trip

For months we had been planning a trip to Alaska. We had tickets to board the Celebrity Millennium from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Anchorage, Alaska. Once in Alaska we would rent a car and tool around for eight days.

And then the company I worked for got bought out and I got laid off about six weeks before departure.

The first thing people asked me was if I was still going to Alaska. Well, what the heck else am I going to do? Because the trip required so much planning (you can’t just pull into a Motel 6 outside of Denali National Park) we had reserved and prepaid for virtually the whole trip. So off we went on cruise number seven. The first photo is from the Inside Passage just south of Skagway, Alaska. The iceberg pictures are in Disenchantment Bay near Hubbard Glacier.

After our cruise we picked of our rental car in Anchorage. It was an interesting experience, renting a car in Alaska. We had a pass to drive the Denali Park Road, something that most people don’t get to do, but all the big-name rental agencies have a “no dirt road” policy. In Alaska there are a lot of potential dirt roads, so we went with a local company that didn’t have any such restriction. And so when we went to pick up the car we were given the keys to a lovely Chevy Sprint. One that was an absolute filthy, tobacco smelling, disaster. After our protests we were put into a Chrysler 300 that was in much better shape – well, except for the star-shaped crack in the windshield right in front of the passenger’s seat. And the completely useless windshield wipers that were so bad we had to stop at an auto parts store for replacements. And then there were the brakes that made a weird noise. I think maybe next time we’ll just get a Hertz car and not tell them we took the Denali Park Road.

I haven’t mentioned it before, but I guess I’ll say now that my best friend and travel companion is autistic. That makes riding a bus for eight hours impossible, and so we got the special pass that let us take our car all the way into the park. That let us see things like this snowshoe hare tucked away under the trees, and it let us get out of the vehicle for photos like the one of the dall sheep.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

I knew this opportunity wouldn’t likely come again, so when we returned from Alaska we decided to make the most of my severance pay package and I decided to take a few months off for adventure. This made 2016 a good year for travel. We’d already been to Florida and Alaska, so we made it a year of road trips starting with a short camping trip to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

Lassen Volcanic National Park and Lava Beds National Monument

Soon after Sequoia and Kings was a longer camping trip, this time to Lassen Volcanic National Park and Lava Beds National Monument in northern California.

Southwestern United States Road Trip

Then it was off with with our tent to the Southwestern United States with stops at Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, Carlsbad Caverns National Park and White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, Saguaro National Park in Arizona, and points between.

Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, California

Between our travels, I found time to take a few local shots as well…

Death Valley National Park

Late in the year we took another trip, this time to spend a few days camping in Death Valley National Park.

San Francisco, California

We rounded out a heavy travel year with a visit to San Francisco, this trip sans tent. For the full story have a look at my Two Days in San Francisco blog.

Two Thousand and Seventeen

Santa Margarita, California

Poly Canyon – California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Tucked away up a canyon in San Luis Obispo are the ruins of a strange city, the Poly Canyon Architectural Design Village. For forty years, Cal Poly architecture students built experimental structures in the hills behind the school. There are about twenty structures there with such names as Shell House, Stick Structure, and Modular House. Some are made of concrete, some of wood and metal, all are interesting.

Templeton, California

My brother loaned us his 55mm macro lens, so I spent some time in our garden photographing some of the smaller inhabitants of Templeton.

2017 Solar Eclipse Road Trip

By June of 2017 I was back at work, but that didn’t stop us from taking a few days off and heading up to Oregon to see the solar eclipse. You can read all about that on my 2017 Total Solar Eclipse blog post.

Paso Robles Custom Car Show

Every year Paso Robles hosts one of the state’s best custom car shows. It’s always a great place to get some nice industrial art photos while practicing how to stay out of reflections on shiny surfaces.

Morro Bay, California

Morro Bay is a bird lover’s paradise. Each winter thousands of species of bird come to spend the winter. Just another reason why I think I live in the best place in the country.

Nevada / Palm Springs, California, Road Trip

By the end of the year I had accumulated a few days of vacation that I had to use before the end of December. Where’s a good place to go in the middle of December? Las Vegas, baby! Las Vegas is a great launch point to explore the Nevada desert. One of my favorite state parks, Valley of Fire, is just a day trip away and in my opinion a far better destination than the much closer Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. We also went to visit Hoover Dam and took a walk along the historic railroad trail.

After spending three nights in Vegas we turned south to visit the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert, California. This is an excellent zoo that not only has a nice collection of animals, but it is one of the few places where the plants are identified as well.

We went to see the animals, but most of my photos were of the incredible G-scale model railroad. This train layout covers 3/4 of an acre and has nearly 1,000 of mainline track, 3,000 feet of track if you include all of yards and sidings. This train set is a reason to visit on its own, but be sure you check the schedule because they close the layout down in the hottest months of summer.

Atascadero, California

And the year ended with a rare visit to Atascadero Lake by a pair of bald eagles. It seemed that every day for a couple of weeks Facebook would have posts from nearly every photographer in town. Some were apparently so excited by the ducks that they failed to look right overhead.

Two Thousand and Eighteen & Two Thousand and Nineteen

At the end of 2018 I published a year in review, a month-by-month overview of everything we did that year. Since that would be the last year of my 30 Years of Photography Series, it would be a bit pointless to rewrite what’s already been complete. And since this series started with 1989, 2019 would actually be the 31st year, so I’m going to omit it here. Take a look at the blog posts in the archive to see what was new for 2019, and I’ll be continuing to post my new photography and stories as they are made.

Thank You!

Thanks for reading all about how this whole thing started. See below for the links to the blog posts referenced above, and don’t forget to sign up for updates to stay up to date on what I’m doing!

• 2016 Florida Adventure
• Two Days in San Francisco
• 2017 Solar Eclipse
• Looking Back at 2018