Public Star Party, Griffith Observatory

Saturday Night Public Star Party, Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, California



After last week's photo shoot at the Pasadena City Hall, I realized that words can only describe so much to the viewer. So in an effort to add to the viewer-experience on this website, I'm going to try adding ambient sound to my posts whenever possible. I picked up an Olympus DS-30 digital recorder from Radio Shack and briefly tested it at home before heading to the Griffith Observatory on Saturday night for the Los Angeles Astronomical Society Public Star Party.

I'm still experimenting to see which recording settings work best for different situations, but I got some good moments of dialogue with this astronomer explaining to me why half moon light is better for viewing details through a telescope than a full moon. The actual recording of this particular segment was nearly eight minutes long and I ended up with about six different sections that are usable. Perhaps I'll find a use for those other clips eventually.

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Pasadena City Hall Photo

Photo of U.S. Flag Hanging on Lamppost in Front of City Hall for Labor Day, Pasadena, California

I spent a lot of time in Pasadena when I was a kid because my grandparents raised my cousins and I while our parents were working. My mom and aunt worked for the city so I saw City Hall frequently. It is one of the most beautiful buildings in this country in my opinion. Judging from the amount of tourists that stop by here to take photos, I'm probably not the only one who believes this.

I've never seen it more beautiful than this past Saturday night. Since re-opening a year ago from the seismic retrofitting job, City Hall has been lit this way every night. Complimenting the scene, I could hear live salsa music playing at the Paseo Colorado outdoor mall, where they were giving the final free salsa dance lessons for the summer. Pasadena is definitely a happening place.

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Leo Carrillo SB Coastline

Wild Coastal Seascape at Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu, California

Water is the one subject that I never tire of photographing. It was a struggle to get sharp pictures of this scene because it was really windy combined with the long exposures. Since I don't have a cable release my options were to use my usual 10 second timer which wouldn't have worked in a situation like this were I needed precise timing, or to trip the shutter with my hands. Opting for the latter, I used "burst mode" at 0.8 sec to ensure that I got some usable frames. This was my favorite frame from this sequence and sharp I might add. My 2nd favorite was slightly blurry however.

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Leo Carrillo State Beach

Tidal Wave Crashing Ashore, Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu, California

My first visit to Leo Carrillo State Beach was a memorable one. I had never seen waves hit the shoreline with such ferocity before. I don't know how high this splash was but I would estimate that it was well over 50 feet! There were some crazy people down in the tide pools (the upper left rocky area) during high tide and I saw one wave fly over them. I'm not suicidal though so I stayed up on the coastal bluffs and studied the wave motion to make sure that I wouldn't get blasted. Good thing for me that from this vantage point, the waves flew outward.

Just around the corner, there was a major film production going on. At one point, the movie crew started generating a heavy amount of fake rain that ended up flying my direction and got my lens all wet. I wasn't too pleased with that. Besides, the waves I got to see were way more exciting than their fake rain. :-) Nature puts on an act too and it's 100% real.

I'm also proud to announce that I made it out of Malibu without being mistaken for paparazzi and didn't get beaten down by drunken members of the Matthew McConaughey Fan Club. Probably because I enjoyed his movie with Kate Hudson, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Anyways...

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When to Trust Your Instincts

San Antonio Creek Cascading Water Abstract, Angeles National Forest, California

Occasionally I'll post images on a photography community website to get feedback from other photographers. Nature photographers in particular see things in a very technical way and that is good to get that sort of feedback. At the end of the day however, you need keep your end target in mind. I posted this image recently and most of the feedback I received centered around the fact that the water was blown out in certain places. A pretty factual observation and good for me to hear.

The end use that I envisioned for this was the home decor market however and I think the brightness of the water is a good thing from this perspective to promote a sense of positive energy. People who buy photos generally aren't fixated on technical aspects but more on how the image makes them feel and/or fits their needs. When I tried alternate processing techniques to tame down the contrast, it just didn't feel right to me so that told me that this was the right way for me to present this image.

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San Diego Skyline Panoramic

Downtown San Diego Skyline Scenic Panoramic, California

A panoramic photo from last week's photo shoot in San Diego. If it wasn't hard enough to display on the internet, I can't even view the entire image at a decent size on my own monitor without scrolling unfortunately. Maybe eventually it will make it on the poster rack at the tourist shops or the San Diego airport will license it for a mural so we can all see it the way it was meant to be seen. :-)

Here is a larger version

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Hotel Del Coronado

Hotel Del Coronado White Sand Beach, Coronado Island, California

Hotel Del Coronado is one of the most photographed hotel resorts in California and for good reason. It is absolutely beautiful from the 1887 Queen Anne Victorian-period architecture to the landscaping and scenery. The frame is built entirely of wood. Definitely a great place to have a meal and lounge by the pool.

I must have walked around the resort three or four times. I didn't even bring out my camera the first time around because I was too busy gawking at "The Del".

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Couple Enjoying View of San Diego Skyline, Coronado Island

Baby Boomer Couple Enjoying View of Downtown San Diego Skyline While Seated at Waterfront Park, Coronado Island, California

What caught my eye about this scene is that it could work well for magazine and travel guide covers. While not a photo I'd likely hang on my wall, publishing has different needs such as space for logo and type. Plus the picture also suggests that people are enjoying the scene which is always a plus when it comes to travel imagery.

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San Diego City Skyline

San Diego City Skyline at Dusk, Coronado Island, California

This was last night's sunset at Coronado Island. I had never crossed the bridge over into Coronado before yesterday. I knew that San Diego had a strong military presence, but didn't realize that almost the entire coastline is devoted to military operations. In fact, just to the north of where I took this photo was there was a huge Naval base. The military planes flying in and out of the island make for a challenging cell phone conversation experience but interesting to see.

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Kids, Ribbons and Photos

America's Kids Exhibition Prizes, LA County Fair, California

I've been like a kid in a candy store the past few days while using the actions to process my photos.

By the way, it's almost that time of year again for the L.A. County Fair. This year features a photo contest called, "Paw Prints". Maybe someday I'll get a ribbon myself.

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Photography Website Re-Launch

I would like to announce that I have relaunched my photography website: Richard Wong Photography: Image Boutique

The previous design was a very personal one for me as it related to my family history but it didn't integrate well with other forms of media. I needed something where I could tie together all of my online and physical marketing materials in a cohesive manner. I also wanted a contemporary design not unlike that of a boutique you might find at The Grove. So after nearly four years of the old website, I have re-branded my website.

This is the start of many new things. I have launched a "Merch" section where you can purchase my magazine currently and will eventually be accompanied by other items. I also plan to add more multimedia. Eventually I also hope to have a portfolio website developed and leave this site as an e-commerce website.

One thing for certain is that for future heavy-duty stuff, I will consider outsourcing the development of my ideas so I can concentrate more on the photography and less time behind a computer.

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Sports Cars For Rent, Las Vegas Strip

Sports Cars For Rent on the Strip, Las Vegas, Nevada

I have been looking for ways to streamline the digital production aspect of my images because it has just taking up way too much of my time that would be best served doing other things. So I've been experimenting with various Photoshop actions that I found on some photography forums. I think I found a nice combination of actions now that I can use for any given image.

This photo here required no retouching on my part. I just clicked on "Dave's Image Punch!", the Orton Effect on Screen blending mode, and the medium "Kalifbanane Cross-Coloring" actions. It looks just as good if not better than what I would have done manually, and still looks realistic.

So from now on, I'll be looking to use my actions to process my files unless there's a compelling reason to do it manually. I'm excited!

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New Redwood Coast Web Gallery

If you've been following my blog for the past month, you probably know that I went on my first trip up to California's North Coast. So now I have uploaded a gallery of images onto my website:

Redwood Coast Photos

Thanks.

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The Golden State Photos Magazine

I just got the proof back from my first magazine and I am impressed with how well the photos were reproduced on the pages. I've heard a lot of horror stories about other photographers not being happy with the print quality of their images from various book publishers and magazines so I'm happy the report that there are no such issues with the MagCloud publisher.

The Golden State Photos Magazine is now available for purchase for $5.50 and features several full and double-page spreads worth of photography. While they aren't quite as large as my 12 x 18 and larger sized archival fine art prints, the magazine provides a much better viewing experience than seeing the photos on the web in my opinion.

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Jesus Loves Laura?

Jesus Loves Laura, San Gabriel Valley, California

I have been hiking regularly for over a month now, both with and without my camera. Two days ago I encountered this in the hills near my house. The only words I could make out was the + Laura. I figured it was a guy doing something romantic for his girl. How sweet! Then I went back last night with my camera and once I looked through my viewfinder I was able to see what it said. All of the sudden, it felt sobering to realize this perhaps didn't have such a happy ending. However one question remains for me, what does it say between the names Laura and Michael? It appears to be a "1 43" but I'm not sure. I looked on the internet, and no biblical passages fit. Nor does it say, "and". How it reads to me is, "Jesus loves Laura and Michael" but I can't quite connect the dots due to the ambiguous nature of those three letters. I even looked through the local news sites and search engines, came up with nothing.

Laura and Michael?

Does anyone have any answers or theories about what this message represents?

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June Gloom at Point Vicente

June Gloom Coastline, Rancho Palos Verdes, California

Gary's equipment was giving him all sorts of issues last Tuesday so I thought this image was fitting of his day.

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Point Vicente Lighthouse

Photographer Gary Crabbe Taking Pictures of Point Vicente Lighthouse, Rancho Palos Verdes, California

Last Tuesday, I went to Point Vicente to meet up with photographer Gary Crabbe since he was in Southern California to take pictures for his 5th book, Backroads of the California Coast. If you're not familiar with Gary's work, he worked for legendary outdoor adventure / nature photographer Galen Rowell for nearly ten years prior to starting his own career ten years ago. And he's a pretty damn good photographer himself.

A few minutes after I took this photo, Allen Schaben, a staff photographer from the Los Angeles Times approached us and we all ended up shooting and chatting for the rest of the day since the light never really materialized. Allen was a pretty cool dude. The day before, he covered a shooting in Inglewood. Talk about an awesome job! The drawback to being a staff photographer though is that the newspaper owns your assignment images. If they paid enough, I'd probably be okay with that too though.

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Venice Beach Drum Circle

Young Woman Playing Tambourine in Drum Circle, Venice Beach, California

Compositionally there are things I would like to have done differently in this photo but I felt that this was the picture captured the vibe that I experienced at Venice Beach last Sunday. I actually had a few that I felt were technically better from a compositional standpoint but the girl's expression in this frame is what draws me to this one in addition to the murky lighting conditions. The photos where she is looking into the camera didn't quite work in my opinion.

I think that is the interesting part to photography. There are elements that generally make for solid compositions but there are no formulas or rules that make for an emotional connection with the scene. Photography is a lot like jazz improv in that way. You learn your craft and practice it, but when it comes down to it, sometimes you've just got to go out there and wing it. That is when all the preparation you did prior pays off.

35mm, f7.1, 1/60 sec, ISO 400, hand-held.

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Beach Party, Venice

Girl Dancing in Drum Circle, Venice Beach, California

Last Sunday I went to Venice Beach to try shooting some "youth culture" for Photoshelter's Shoot! the Day contest. I photographed the drum circle last month but had been wanting to do a re-shoot so this contest gave me another excuse to shoot more photos of this weekly event. This time was a little different because the cops made us all move near the water rather than stay next to the boardwalk. I think this loosened everyone up more and attracted a bigger crowd so there were quite a few people dancing this time. Fortunately, mostly attractive young women.

I wanted to mess around with longer exposures for a few shots so I stopped down to f16 and got nearly one-second exposures while hand-holding. This was one of the few attempts that came out with just the right parts moving and the rest sharp.

17-35mm @ 17mm, f16, 1/8 sec, ISO 100, hand-held

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Trinidad State Beach

Trinidad State Beach, California

This was taken on the last evening of the trip. I didn't really encounter any special lighting conditions during this trip, as it was mostly just harsh light, but it was a relatively productive trip nonetheless. Trinidad is definitely a place that I would like to explore some more as this area has potential for great scenic photos.

Now that I've been to the North Coast, the only other areas that I haven't visited along the California Coast are the Mendocino Coastline and the Crescent City / Smith River area which was just a few miles north of Klamath. Where I would also like to spend some more time photographing is Big Sur and the Sonoma Coast.

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