It’s taken a little over a month but I finally got around to batching my pictures from Hawaii. The picture commemorated numerous things – Eli’s first trip to Hawaii, my first trip to Hawaii, Brittany’s birthday in September, Elana’s birthday in October, and lastly my birthday the day after we ended the trip. We rented a condo in Kihei on the island of Maui and got to relaxing! The injury prevented me from doing the stuff I wanted to do, namely surfing, hiking, and paddleboarding, but it left plenty of time of hanging out at the beach. Not much to complain about when you days consist of lounging on the beach with a few drinks. We had to get creative with the beach sports and ended up come up with paddle golf. Outside of being beach bums, we enjoyed great times at the condo, dinner’s out, and exploring the island. It was an amazing trips with great friends, can’t wait to get back.

If you’ve never been to Hawaii, find a time to make it over there soon, it’s worth the long flight for the East Coaster’s. Our group decided to try to make it a yearly occurrence. Next time I go I’m going focus more on taking more pictures at dawn and dusk.

I’ve been slacking since I tore my Achilles tendon. This down time was supposed to be an ideal time to expand on my site and photography. Since the injury, I’ve only highlighted three sets of new pictures and a few blog posts. I admit it was harder than I expected and I didn’t foresee the challenges of taking pictures with a boot on or a bad leg – but I’m allowing myself to give you a bunch of excuses. I’ve recent taken two trips that offered some food photo ops, Montana for Labor day and Hawaii for the weekend prior to my birthday. In order to reduce jealously between the two sets of pictures, I have to share the Montana ones first. I’ll go through the Hawaii pics soon and I’ll have those up on the site within the next week or so.

The first pictures were taken at the Bowman’s backyard at sunrise and sunset. Whitefish offers some of the most picturesque views and I’d recommend that everyone make a trip up there to check out Glacier park. The tranquil environment offered the perfect therapy for my leg; the biking riding and hiking also helped. The second set of pictures are from Glacier Park. The Bowman gang (minus Charley) showed a little compassion and took me on a 4-5 mile hike around the lake. My leg ended up getting a great workout, but I came to a realization that it was going to be a very long time until I got back to my normal active self. I hope you enjoy the Montana pictures!

A few weeks ago, two of our really good friends from Chicago came out to visit us, Jake and Christine. The trip had been planned since the Spring, but it became even more special after the announced their engagement in late June. Even though I had never done any professional or wedding photography, they asked if I could do their engagement photos while they were out here. I was a little nervous at first, but I figured it was a low risk situation – worst case, they didn’t like any of the pictures and they could hire a professional. I ended up loving the experience, and we took pictures throughout the entire trip. We took a few pictures at Mantanza Creek Winery in Sonoma and then some more around the city. In all I ended up with over 150 picture for them to have. This set are thirty of my favorite pictures. Congrats to Jake and Christine on their engagement! We are looking forward to celebrating with you and your family next year! The two of you are perfect for one another; the love and energy you have for one another show in the pictures.

These are just a few of my favorites. I’m sure Christine and Jake will share more on facebook! Some of my favorite ones are in black and white, which dominate the set.

Throwback post from September 2009. I took these four pictures in NYC and did a some post processing (black and white, or color isolation) on a two. I highlighted a few of these in Facebook a year before launching my blog. The featured image on this post is one of my favorite pictures. I captured a photo of the iconic Grand Central Station; I love the contrast, and the color isolation on the flag.

With the unlimited supply of digital cameras – point and shoots, camera phones, digital SLR – everyone is digital photographer. Snap a picture of the sunrise on your phone and bam, you’re a digital photographer. It’s the beauty of the hobby, the modern world has reduced the price of entry so that anyone that can do it. If you can afford a phone or an inexpensive point & shoot, you can get photography; nut while anyone can enter the hobby, it takes time to truly master it. Buy all the fancy equipment you want, but it won’t improve your technique and composition. I bought my digital SLR, a few accessories, and started a photography blog to enter the world of digital photography. I have a long way to go until I’m upgraded from my amateur status. Truly mastering it will take time to improve on techniques and hone all the skills. Give someone off the street a fully loaded, top of the line SLR and they probably won’t come away with any better pictures than they would’ve taken with an entry level or a point and shot. Give a professional or someone who’s master photography a camera phone, and the results will amazing you!

Today’s blog post features someone that I’ve held in high regard, especially in regard to digital photography. Tom Bowman started his hobby in digital photography back in the day when we had film and dark rooms; the man knows Ansel Adams…Ansel Adam (not to date him). Since I’ve met him, he’s abandon his full fledged SLR and opted for shooting with his iPhone (3G) or his Leica (compact). If he had to face off against someone with a DSLR, and he’d win any day. He has a natural eye for composition and lighting. To him every day is a photo shoot; a simple walk around the neighborhood will probably yield a few interesting photos. In the two year’s he’s had his iPhone 3G, he’s built a vast collection of amazing photos that I wish I could replicate with my DSLR. Just this week he launched a new site (www.iphoneansel.com), which I highly recommend that you check out. He pictures focus on composition, and he understands how to take advantage of the iPhone’s small sensor. His adventures life between his home in Whitefish and his home away from home in San Francisco, give him diverse scenery to take capture photos. His site even has a user submission portion to submit your own camera photography.

Check out iphoneansel.com when you get a chance!

This past weekend we trekked back to the East Coast to celebrate Abby and Danny’s wedding. It It was a long trip (SFO –> ORD –CHO –> Drive to Roanoke = 12 hours of traveling), but well worth it to see a lot of old friends and to meet new ones. I miss the southern hospitality and charm that we get back in Virginia. I wasn’t able to snap a lot of pictures because i was in the wedding, but Brittany grabbed a few ones of some special moments. The reception was at a country club in Roanoke. Mid way through the reception we got a special visit from the Hokie bird. The only advice I’d give to the Hokie bird, is to hit the showers, you smelled a little worse than my boot.This trip was also special because I finally ditched the use of the crutches. Congrats to the newly weds; thanks for inviting us to celebrate the start of your new life! Special thanks to the Coblentz and Diaz families for hosting us! Enjoy the pictures!

P.S. Ryans, I never got a picture of the two of you!

This past weekend I took a stroll around the neighborhood to enjoy the nice weather and to snap a few photos. With my state, a long walk isn’t much of a possibility so I stuck to the area right around my house. Finding inspiration in the Marina isn’t the easiest thing to do. After walking around for a bit I found some inspiration right below my feet. I decided to take my camera down on the sidewalk to find some interesting photos. If being on the floor with a camera wasn’t enough of a reason to have people stare at you, try doing it with a boot on and with crutches to see how people react. My simple photo shoot taught me a few things – always look for a new perspective and stop giving a rats ass about people looking at you while you are taking pictures (unless you’re snapping away at them like paparazzi).

Side note, the one benefit of my injury was supposed to that it would give me time to do other things – photography, along with other things. That will probably occur soon, but up until recently taking pictures with two crutches is not an easy feat. I’m down to being able to walk with one crutch or short distances with none at all. I’m in training to be able to participate in Diaz’s wedding this weekend without crutches at all.

In early June a few friends from Chicago visited us in San Francisco. The weather wasn’t ideal, it rained most of the weekend, but we made the most of it. We did a couple of things in the city and then headed out to Sonoma for a day/night. Finally got to see the view from Coit tower on the last night they were in town.

A few friends from Chicago visited us in San Francisco a few week ago. I haven’t filtered through all the pictures yet, but I wanted to share four pictures that have quickly become my favorite.

“Cheers” . The first picture is a picture I took during our wine tasting at Stryker in the Alexander Valley Appalachia of Sonoma. It was rainy day but the views at the winery were fantastic. If you prefer red wines and want to visit a small winery with great views, we’d recommend making a stop at Stryker. We made the stop thanks to a recommendation by our friend Jason Petty (check out his Social Wine Project on facebook).

“Gorgeous in the Rain” – The second picture does not need more explanation. This beautiful women makes me feel like the luckiest man on the planet. She also drives a ton of traffic to my sight. It was a rainy day so I adjusted the temperature a bit and lowered the clarify a bit to give it the soft look. Small changes to an already gorgeous picture.

“Street Shadows” – The third picture is one that I took at the top of Telegraph Hill. The sun was starting to set and I was taking the picture from the opposite side of the hill, causing the shadow effective.

“Rocky Sunset” – The fourth picture is of the SF sunset at Land’s End. The original picture I took was a little bland. I took it without a filter and didn’t do a good job of exposing the rocks. I was just about to delete it when I came across a Lightroom preset that brought out the color in the sunset. I messed with the exposure near the bottom of the photo to give the picture a different touch.

More pictures from our Easter weekend trip to Monterey and Carmel. We stayed at the Beach Sanctuary Hotel and Spa where I snapped a few pictures of the sunset. The other pictures are from Carmel and Pebble Beach.