Cal Poly Pomona: 5 Years Later

I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in 2004. The year after I still frequented the campus since Jamie was still going there. Since she transferred I have only been back on campus a hand full of times. Today Jamie and I spent some time photographing there and chronicling the changes and the foundations. Jamie started by photographing the Arabian Horses. This is one thing which is both always changing but yet always a constant. The Arabian Horses have to be kept on campus you see as part of the deal Kellogg made to allow the ranch to become a university campus. Jamie photographed some of the newest additions to the campus; the young foals. Then we photographed the horses which sit in the triangle plot of pasture near the 10 freeway exit.

Next Jamie drove to the top of the new parking structure. I guess it’s been in use for a while but it is new to us. The structure is massive and probably is only dwarfed by the structure at Disney Land, California. From the top I photographed many buildings old and new. The familiar CLA building with the triangle shaped point sits near the library which recently got a face lift. The library is now a juxtaposition of old and new all in one. The original building remains intact with a new fascia on one half, a new entrance, and more room.

Most memorable of all are the Dorms where I spent many many nights with friends since gone off to lead separate lives but not forgotten. The buildings look exactly as they did the day I moved in during the Fall of 1999. I remember making the walk many times between Montecito where I lived and Cedritos where most of my friends were. I remember the long nights not studying but instead just hanging out or playing Counter Strike. Oh, those were the days. I also remember LosOlivos . A place called “the olives” can’t serve good food and it didn’t. I even worked there for a while. At least you could get a bowl of cereal and know it would be a constant. All Kellogg’s brands too… I wonder why?

After driving around the entire campus, Jamie and I crossed Temple Ave. and visited the Farm Store. There we bought some Faygo soda at one of the few locations where it is sold. I also picked up an awesome shirt which says “There are two Cal Polys: Pomona and the other one”.

I actually like what they’ve done with the place. A lot has changed in five years but even more has stayed the same. I’ve got to say I like the parking structure. Parking was always a nightmare on campus (and I lived there and had a separate lot). I can’t help but wonder what the next five years will bring. I hope it’s more of the same; improving the campus while paying homage to it’s history.

Kellogg Arabian

New foal at Kellogg Ranch

New foal at Kellogg Ranch

Kellogg horses

Kellogg filly

Jamie and filly

Jamie and Arabian horse

Cal Poly

Kellogg Ranch view from the parking structure

New Library

New parking structure

Jamie on the roof of the parking structure

CLA building

Cedritos

Clouds over Cal Poly

Farm Store

Farm Store Truck

Farm Store

Farm Store

Faygo

There are two Cal Polys: Pomona and the other one

Independence Day Hike

Jamie and I started out our Independence Day at our new Tustin place of residence by having Red, White and Blue French Toast. If you know the history of how this country was founded you’ll understand why that isn’t a contradiction. As you can see in the photo the Red was provided by strawberries, the White by powered sugar, and the Blue by blueberries. Jamie and I then proceeded to spend the rest of the daylight hours filing my old mail in preparation to move it to our new place. This was the height of excitement let me tell you.

Luckily we broke away from that extremely exciting task to do something that was actually fun. Jamie booked us for an evening hike at Bommer Canyon which is in the South Preserve of the Irvine Ranch though the Irvine Ranch Wildlands website. The hike started at 7:30 PM and went on a 3 mile loop up near the 73 Toll Road and paused at the top of the ridge for a spectacular view of at least eight different fireworks shows all over Orange County. I took the camera along and attempted some shots of the shows below. Only after the hike did I realize I truly needed a zoom lens but I think the shots I captured were pretty spectacular nonetheless. Besides the long exposure night shots of the fireworks I also bumped the ISO up to 25,600 and took some shots lit only by moonlight. This is extremely difficult since you have to manual focus and it’s quite impossible to do anything except estimate distance since it’s dark out. Through trial and error I was able to get these shots somewhat in focus.

The hike was fun and just difficult enough to be challenging. Jamie and I look forward to doing more hikes like this in the future.

You can view the details of our hike here as well as our pictures below:

Red, White and Blue French Toast

Bommer Canyon trail taken with the SD550

Orange County

Moonlit shot taken at ISO 25,600.

Picture of the Week 7-1-2009

Our New Camera: The 5D Mark II

Jamie and I recently purchased the Canon 5D Mark II with the kit 24-105mm F/4 L IS USM lens. Canon recently released this camera and there is a significant backlog of orders for it at this time so we had to wait for a while to purchase it. The lens by itself has been out since 2005 but you get it at a discount when you purchase it with the kit. We also purchased a 16 Gig UDMA Compact Flash card and plan on purchasing an extra battery as soon as one is in stock and selling for the MSRP instead of 50% above the MSRP. 

Trust me when I say that a lot of thought went into the purchase of the camera. I had recently become frustrated at the high ISO performance of the XTi. Although this doesn’t affect shooting outdoors very often; it does affect shooting indoors without a flash. In addition while the XTi has excellent resolution I always knew in the back of my mind that it was not up to par with the real professional cameras on the market. The 5D Mark II is very much a professional camera. The main things which set it apart are a 21 mega-pixel full-frame sensor and excellent high ISO performance with little to no noticeable noise up to 800 ISO and workable images up to 6400 ISO. The reason I say images are workable at 6400 is that they do have noise but noise reduction will get rid of it. Noise reduction (in camera or in post-processing) does reduce resolution however if you start with a tack sharp 21 mega-pixel image you will not notice the loss of resolution unless you zoom into the image at 100% and really look for it.

Overall I’ve been extremely happy with the camera so far. It is heavier but it feels good in my hand. The battery life is exceptional and will last through a couple of half day shoots without any problem. The kit lens is a real performer as well. Zoom is fast and the Image Stabilization works well. It does have some distortion at 24mm however that is to be expected and it can be corrected in post production. Shooting wide open yields perfectly out of focus backgrounds with nice bokeh. 

Finally this camera adds HD video capabilities to Canon’s Digital SLR lineup. The videos are great once you get the hang of shooting via the LCD screen. The only thing I don’t like is how it saves movies in MOV format. Other then that I really like having the option to shoot video.

Below are some examples of shots from the 5D Mark II:

Shot with 24-105mm F4L IS USM kit lens. Shot at 24mm focal length, ISO 100, F13 and a shutter speed of 1/250 of a second. This shot has not been edited.

Shot with 24-105mm F4L IS USM kit lens. Shot at 24mm focal length, ISO 100, F8 and a shutter speed of 1/320 of a second. This shot has not been edited.

Shot with 24-105mm F4L IS USM kit lens. Shot at 105mm focal length, ISO 160, F10 with a shutter speed of 1/500 of a second. This shot has not been edited.

Shot with 24-105mm F4L IS USM kit lens. Shot at 105mm focal length, ISO 200, F6.3 and a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second. This shot has not been edited.

Shot with 24-105mm F4L IS USM kit lens. Shot at 47mm focal length, ISO 5000, F4 and a shutter speed of 1/60 of a second. This shot has not been edited.

Shot with 24-105mm F4L IS USM kit lens. Shot at 105mm focal length, ISO 25,600, F4 and a shutter speed of 1/160 of a second. This shot has not been edited.

Chino Hills State Park: After The Fire

I finally got out to go on a mountain bike ride after a long time of not riding. I decided to go to Chino Hills State park with a friend. I have to admit we could have chosen a better day though. The reason is two-fold. One is that it was wet which made it muddy. While this was fun at times; it was annoying at other times with mud sticking to my tires like super glue. The other problem is that it was foggy which is not great for photos. Still the photos I took capture how the park is now post fire. Basically I was surprised at how quickly the grass has come back. The trees on the other hand are not so lucky. Most of the trees in the park grow in small ravines or valleys and it appears that this is where the fire was the hottest. The grass that is growing back looks similar to yard grass. This is nothing like the shoulder high wispy grass that used to be there. The park is green but you can tell that life is only starting to return to normal. Most of the wildlife has no place to hide so the only things we saw were small birds who can quickly return. Jack Rabbits and insects where nowhere to be found. The ground still smells kind of like a wet camp fire. I fully expect the park to bounce back this spring and in a few years the place should look like normal again. The only thing which will take some time is for the trees to come back. That really is the saddest part about the fire ravaging the place. It was nice to see the park again and get some riding in. A small part of me was happy the ride ended with me being coated in mud from head to toe.

Red Rock Canyon

Jamie and I are back from vacation at Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. Our vacation started on Sunday November 23 and we have done and seen a lot. We chose Red Rock as our destination based on an LA Times article about the new resort and the nearby Red Rock Canyon from where the resort gets its name. The resort is about 10 miles from the Las Vegas Strip. The draw of the resort for us was to go to Vegas but have a completely different experience then we normally do. I think we did. We of course played on the casino floor and enjoyed the jacuzzi of the resort but we also spent two days exploring the Red Rock Canyon and the various hiking trails within the canyon. We have taken hundreds of photos of the amazing geological features of the canyon as well as the plant and animal life.

 

Jamie and I also ate at Hachi which is the sushi restaurant at the resort, played two games of bowling and we saw Transporter 3 at the midnight showing in the movie theatre located in the resort. Overall it was a fun trip and a great opportunity to photograph.

See more pictures from our trip to Red Rock in our GALLERY.

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