Switchfoot Bro-Am 2010

June 29, 2010

This past weekend Bryan and I went to the Switchfoot Bro-Am. We first went to to this event four years ago but haven’t been able to come back until this year. The Bro-Am takes place in Encintas, the home town of the band Switchfoot, at Moonlight Beach. We got there around 7:30am during the start of the surf competition. As with most mornings at the beach it was very overcast and cold during the first few hours we were there. We watched multiple teams compete in heats. Teams included Hurley, Jedidiah, Billabong and other surf related retailers. The main heat between the guys of Switchfoot and the editors of Surfrider magazine was by far the most popular. While Bryan took a lot of photos of the other teams I grabbed the camera to shoot some closeups of the band getting ready for their heat. While all the press gathered around the Switchfoot guys I couldn’t help feeling like paparazzi. Although we didn’t stay for the whole event this year there was still lots to see. There are many vendors on the beach selling food, band memorabilia and giving out free samples. The best part is that there is a concert that goes on most of the day which includes many different artists with Switchfoot being the main performer at the end of the day.

Besides the fact that this event is put on for the local charity Standup For Kids, this is a family event for the guys of Switchfoot. I saw the whole Switchfoot clan gathered around cheering for the guys, from wives to kids to grandparents and local friends. It just shows how down to earth these guys are and that they have never forgotten where they came from, after all Moonlight Beach is the place they grew up surfing at when they were kids.

Tim, Jon and Chad from Switchfoot

Rob Machado

Jon Foreman of Switchfoot

Chad Butler of Switchfoot

Moonlight Beach

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Photo 191: A Series Of Fortunate Pictures

June 11, 2010

For our final project in our digital photo class Niel brought in a jar of fortune cookies. He asked each person to pick two cookies and told us to create a series of photos based on the fortunes inside. We could either combine the two fortunes or use one of the fortunes as our theme. Bryan and I both chose to do only one of our fortunes with his fortune being “Keep up the good health habits you already have.” He interpreted his project very literally and shot photos of activities he normally does such as walking the dogs, riding his bike and going to the gym. He added a twist to his interpretation by shooting all the photos from his perspective. Everyone in the class thought his idea was very successful and I totally agree.

The fortune that I chose to do was “Pick up some litter and help keep our world beautiful.” My idea for this project was to show beautiful landscapes with huge amounts of trash in the foreground. Generally beautiful places do not have large piles of garbage strewn about and that’s where Photoshop magic comes in. Because I had a plethora of nice landscape photos that I have taken I decided to focus all my energy on getting pictures of large piles of trash. I naively thought this would be easy, I tried going to local landfills but apparently these places do not allow you to photograph their trash so I had to look for other means. Unfortunately, the area that I live in is very clean so I couldn’t even find trash lying about in the streets or near the dumpsters. I realized I had to do something I dreaded, I had to use stock photography. I found a website that allowed me to use free images of garbage, I composited those images onto my own landscape shots and Viola! I had the “shots” I wanted. My only regret is that I relied too heavily on Photoshop for this project despite the fact that I am not a Photoshop whiz. One criticism of my final project was that although the landscapes were beautifully lit the stock images lacked the same quality and you can very much tell that my final images were composited.

Stock trash photo by Chiara Marra

Stock tire photo by Simon Film

Stock trash photo by Editor B

Stock trash photo by D'Arcy Norman

Stock trash photo by Xerones

I would definitely say we learned a lot in this class, not just about Photoshop but about creative thinking. I learned how important looking at a subject from a different perspective is to creating your own style of photographs. Anyone can take good photos, but it’s the way you interpret a subject that can be the difference between a good image and a great image. I personally have been anti-Photoshop for a long time because I see a lot of people over doing it and relying heavily on it which I was guilty of in my own final project. Ironic huh? I learned that a little post processing can go a long way to enhancing a photo and that good Photoshop is all about subtlety. We ended up ordering Photoshop CS5 for ourselves and have since learned all of the interesting and useful tools it had to offer. Photoshop is definitely a powerful tool and Niel reminded us all of the famous saying “With great power comes great responsibility”.

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IVHS Dog Walk 2010

June 1, 2010

Last weekend was the 9th Annual IVHS Dog Walk which took place at Bonelli Park in San Dimas. We have participated in this event on and off for the last five years but this year was really special for us because this was the first year we were officially dog owners. As with previous years we joined Team Natasha and began fundraising very early in the year so we would again be the top fundraising team of the event. Our team ended up being quite large with over 20 walkers and of course our team leader, Natasha was also celebrating her 4th birthday at the event. Our plan was to bring both of our dogs to the event however the weeks leading up to the walk proved that Maxx and Pearl could not possibly behave together when presented with the opportunity to meet so many new dogs. Although it saddened me we decided to leave Maxx behind and only take Pearl to the Dog Walk. Without Maxx around Pearl significantly relaxed and was mostly a good dog for the entire event with the exception of when she tried to fit The Wizard’s face in her mouth, but no dog is perfect.

As with previous years our friend Sarah went all out for this event. She and the girls baked dog biscuits which they passed out at Natasha’s birthday booth, she also made cupcakes with little pictures of Natasha and the dogs on them. She also made us name tags out of yellow and red duct tape that looked like rocket ships with a stream of flames, these were to go with the theme of this year’s walk A Pooch Odyssey. Natasha ended up raising over $1400 which not only made her the top fundraising youth but got her some awesome prizes including a hydration backpack and a car sunshade which she carried with her during the entirety of the walk. Naturally we ended up winning top fundraising team with our total donations reaching nearly $3000. After we collected all of our prizes we gathered together and headed out on the walk. This year we actually did the whole 3 mile round trip, the weather was great during the walk and Pearl was a total champ. One of the best parts of the walk is getting to see all the different breeds of dogs that people have. I think Bryan and I agreed after doing the walk that we wanted a St. Bernard and a Great Pyrenees.

We came back from the walk tired out but ready to eat some cupcakes. Even Pearl and the other dogs got to have birthday cupcakes. We all had a great time at the walk and can’t wait to start planning for next year!

Check out our photos from this years walk below:

Natasha's Team minus a few people

Natasha painting her own dog bowl

Bryan and Pearl

Ready. Set. Walk!

Natasha's Team

Pearl met another White Shepherd named Rose

Mark took this photo of Bryan, Pearl and I.

Aisha, The Wizard and Super Tramp

Puppies should no be allowed to be this cute

Yes, someone actually did this to their dog

Birthday cupcakes

Party favors made by Sarah

Pearl enjoying her cupcake

Yet another group shot, it was the end of the day and we could not coordinate anymore. This was shot by the IVHS photographer with our Mark II.

Bryan edited a video he shot with the Mark II of us setting up for a group shot. It was the first video he did in Pinnacle Studio Ultimate. Check it out.

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Julian, California

May 10, 2010

About a week ago we visited the splendid little town of Julian. If you remember from our blog on Anza-Borrego we drove through Julian accidentally a few weeks ago. This time my friend Sarah and I planned a trip to Smith Ranch to take the Julian Train and Gold Mining Tour. Sarah brought along her husband and her two daughters and Bryan joined us as well. We met up in Escondido and we rode in their minivan along the 78 to get to Julian. The 78 is very much like a mountain rode, very windy and vomit inducing, especially in the third row of a minivan. Finding the actual ranch was a slightly confusing since there are no real signs. We drove down a tiny rode and found the distinguishing landmark that the website said it was near, the Mormon church. The ranch entrance was right off the parking lot. We had arrived early so we decided to go back into town and get some coffee and pancakes of course. After our quick breakfast we drove back down to the ranch which was lush and green on this beautiful spring day. We were greeted by an over sized yellow Lab named Honey Dog. Our tour guides were a couple dressed in what can only be described as pioneer clothing named Mr. and Mrs. Smith. They led us to a small mining train which was being pulled by an electric mule. We were lucky enough to only have two other families join us on the tour so I group was pretty small. This tour is generally geared toward kids but nevertheless I was super excited to ride around on a train. On our way around the ranch we stopped at various spots while Mr. Smith explained the history of the area.

We stopped at the top of the ranch where the mine was located. Mr. Smith said that when they first bought the property back in the early 90’s the mine was completely closed off and over the years he had managed to open it up again about 30 feet. He showed us an old mine car and explained how it was used to haul heavy loads. He then asked if anybody wanted to ride in the mine car, of course I volunteered but it quickly became clear that he specifically was asking the kids. I still argue that I am only 5 feet tall and could have definitely fit in with the others. He gave us all hard hats and led us into the mine which was very cool to see. After coming out of the mine we met up with Mrs. Smith who showed us what miner’s lettuce looks like and told us to pick some and try it out. It was actually very tasty and it was abundant in the area around the mine. We then went down to pan for gold. Once the kids found their pieces of “gold” Mrs. Smith traded the gold for Red Vines, yes gold for licorice just like they did back in the day. They then showed us a letter that was written by Mrs. Smith’s great uncle back in the late 1800’s and also explained the importance of the pony express back during that time. Mr. Smith also demonstrated why the pony express did not transport gold, one reason of course was the high probability of being robbed and the other reason was that gold is freaking heavy. He had all of us lift a regular brick and then lift a gold bar (lead bar spray painted gold) to see the difference in weight. After this highly scientific experiment we got back on the train and went back down to the entrance of the ranch. Our tour had come to an end and it was time to explore Julian.

We drove back down to the main street that runs through Julian. Despite being a very small town basically out in the middle of nowhere there are a lot of tourists walking around. There is also a lot of bikers that like to pass through, there was almost more motorcycles than there were cars. As you would expect of any town that is a tourist trap most of the shops are filled with useless trinkets and Julian themed sweaters and magnets. We made our way past the crowds and found a cemetery at the end of the road which is always a good place to take photos. After exploring the cemetery for a few minutes we decided to find a pie shop. Julian is not only famous for being a mining town but also for it’s apple orchards. Because of this there are many pie shops in Julian that mostly specialize in apple pie. We stopped at the Julian Pie Company and ordered some dutch apple pie with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream. It was a delicious end to our visit to Julian.

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OC Pet Expo 2010

April 19, 2010

This past weekend Bryan and I attended the OC Pet Expo at the fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. This was the first year we have gone to this event since this is the first year we are officially dog owners. About ten years ago my dad and I went to a similar event at the LA County fairgrounds and we left the event with tons of free stuff for our cats. We didn’t pay for a thing except admission, I thought this event would be similar. The admission to the expo is $12 per person, this is insanely high but I was willing to pay it as long as I got a plethora of free samples. Well the free samples were few and far between, we ended up paying for a majority of the “free samples” that were being offered. We started out in the dog buildings and were almost instantly drawn into the Alaskan Malamute rescue booth. Since we have our own Malamute mutt at home I had to drop a donation to them because Mals are just so darn cute. Along with the many doggy related vendors that lined the building each breed of dog had their own booth. Breeds such as Dachshunds, Bulldogs, Mastiffs, German Shepherds, Newfoundlands and breeds that I had never even heard of were on display. One breed that Bryan and I particularly fell in love with was the Anatolian Shepherd. The dogs that they had at their booth were very large and were the color of sheep, they had the sweetest faces. This is definitely a breed I will look into if we ever adopt again.

As we weaved our way through the two buildings we collected numerous samples of dog food and dog treats. Our friends Mark and Sarah were also at the event and we found them at the Rattlesnake Avoidance demo booth. Sarah was holding a dog that could only be described as a Rottweiler with the body of a Corgi. His owner’s called him a Runtweiler, we had to get a photo since I had never seen anything like him. We ended up having to make a trip back to the car because all the “free samples” we were getting was weighing us down. We stopped for a moment to see the Splash Dogs demo in which dogs are judged on their splashes into a large pool. Some of the dogs absolutely loved the water and jumped gleefully in. One dog in particular that we watched hesitated and seemed to be scared of the water, I’m sure he didn’t get high points but watching him proceed with caution before jumping in was pretty hilarious. We then made our way over to the Equine arena where they were having a Friesien demonstration. Friesiens are by far my favorite breed of horse and if you see my photos below you can see why, they are stunningly beautiful. By far the most expensive thing at the Pet Expo was the food, and unfortunately we got hungry while we were there. Our taco salads and drinks cost us nearly $30. Note to self: bring lunch and leave it in the car if we come back next year. To end our day at the Pet Expo we headed over to the Adoption building which was full of numerous rescue and adoption organizations. We found the booth for Coastal German Shepherd Rescue, which is where we got our two dogs from so of course I had to buy something from them. I ended up getting a magnet that says “I love my white German Shepherd” and a mug, cheesy I know but I definitely support their cause.

Check out a few photos from the Pet Expo below:

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Photo 191-Photomerge

April 18, 2010

For our third class assignment we were taught how to merge multiple images in Photoshop CS4 to make one single image. Our instructor, Neil Sharum, asked us to shoot a minimum of three images. We could either choose to do a standard panorama or shoot one scene, on a tripod, slightly changing the scene a little with each shot. Bryan and I chose the latter. There are two techniques to merge photos in Photoshop. The first requires you to open up all the images you intend to merge, then go to FILE —> AUTOMATE —> PHOTOMERGE. This merges the three images, however the final merge can sometimes look ridiculous, for example, my final photomerge had no subjects in it. After the merge is done you most likely have to do some tweaking. Bryan and I both had to paint our subjects back into the picture. You do this by using the paint brush tool on the layer mask that is created for each photo.

The second way to merge photos is to again open all the images you would like to merge but this time open them side by side. Choose the photo that you would like to be your background image and drag the other photos on top of it. Then in the LAYERS tab create layer masks for the two photos that you dragged on top of your background. Use the paint bucket tool to make these layer masks black and then with the paint brush tool paint your subjects back in. This sounds completely complicated but it is actually very simple as long as the photographs you are using are photographed correctly. Below are the images Bryan and I created.

Photomerge by Jamie

Photomerge by Bryan

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Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

April 13, 2010

After reading online about the incredible wildflower bloomage that takes place at Anza-Borrego Desert Park every year around April I knew we had to check it out. We decided to go this past Saturday for a sunrise shoot. Anza-Borrego is about two and a half hours away from our house so in order to get there at 6:20am for the sunrise we had to leave at 3:30am. I can assure you, this is the earliest I have ever left my house to take pictures, I felt like a real dedicated photographer. Google Maps told us to take the 15 freeway to the 79 and to continue on the 79 until we reached San Felipe Road and make a few turns after that. If you are not familiar with the 79 you really don’t want to be as it is a one lane highway with zero street lights. Of course we were trying to beat the sunrise so it was pitch black on this windy little highway. We drove most of the way with our high beams on wondering to ourselves if we would actually ever see the turn off for San Felipe Road. We continued driving, we passed through a quaint little touristy town called Julian and ended up next to a lake called Lake Cuyamaca. The sun was just starting to come over the horizon so we stopped by this little lake and took a picture. We then continued on, but the sun was rising fast, we decided to turn into a camp site and see where we were at. Since Google Maps had obviously led us astray we punched the address into our GPS. We ended up being several miles off course, in fact we had to drive back the other way so we could get on the 78, which was not shown on our Google directions. As we drove back we stopped again at a place called Vista Point which overlooked the valley below. On top of the hill there were three large crosses which looked totally epic in the golden morning light. We finally started heading back so we can get to Anza-Borrego and we finally got there around 7:30am. That’s right, it took FOUR hours to get there. We ended up at the visitor’s center and stayed for about half an hour taking pictures of various flowers and cacti. You would think after that long drive we would have wanted to stay awhile but unfortunately due to park rules prohibiting dogs from going on any of the trails we had to leave our dogs at home. We knew we could not leave them all day in the house so after that initial thirty minutes of photographing we headed right back home. We didn’t get to see a lot of the wildflowers that were advertised on the parks website, but just as we are dedicated enough to wake up at the crack of dawn and drive for hours to take a few photos, we are even more dedicated to our dogs. On our way back we got to see how beautiful the scenery was off the 79, we even pulled over to take a few pictures. When we got home we were exhausted from all the driving but at least we have some great pictures to show for it.

To see more photos from our trip to Anza-Borrego check out our GALLERY.

Lake Cuyamaca put through Photomatix and made into an HDR

View from Vista Point also made into an HDR

Cross on top of the hill at Vista Point

Barrel Cactus in HDR

: These yellow flowers were everywhere

: More Cactus

I love shooting at F4

Blooming Cactus

Yes I was trying to be the tree

Bryan and I at the Visitor's Center

I loved this barbed wire

Wildflowers off the 79

Heading for home

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Photo 191: Portraits

April 6, 2010

For our second project in our digital photography class we were asked to do portraits. I chose to do environmental portraits of my coworkers. To make my photos a little more artsy I converted them to black & white and added noise in Photoshop to make them have a more grainy film feel. I think they were very successful. I call my series; “Life in Customer Service”.

Bryan did his own environmental portraits while at the Dirt Devil Race. He shot his photos when the sun was coming up over Mission Trails so he got very beautiful golden light.

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Dirt Devil 5K & 10K Race 2

March 28, 2010

YOUR PHOTOS ARE HERE!!!!

Check out your photos HERE IN OUR ZENFOLIO GALLERY.

To purchase photos just mouse over your photo and click on ADD TO CART in the top left corner and choose what size you would like your print. You also have the option to crop your photo, frame it or get it mounted on foam core.

You can also purchase the high-res digital file of your photos by going to the DOWNLOADS link after adding your photos to your shopping cart.

Thanks for participating in the race and thanks for shopping at Shez Photo!

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Photo 191: Point of View

March 15, 2010

Recently Bryan and I enrolled in a digital photography class at Santa Ana College. Although we are both very savvy in digital photography we decided to take the course to brush up on our Photoshop skills since we don’t have very much experience in that area. The first project we were given was called point of view. Our instructor, Neil Sharum, required us to pick a subject or a theme and shoot it from a different point of view. The rules were to find a different perspective to shoot from, he explicitly stated that we could not shoot at eye level. Both of our projects were well received by our fellow students.

Bryan chose and architectural theme for his project. We went down to the Anaheim Convention Center to get his shots.