July 4th Criterium

Eight times in the past eleven years I've had to shoot the Fourth of July Criterium bike race in downtown Davis on what was supposed to be my day off. It gets hard to find new ways to shoot the same old thing, even something as photogenic as this race usually is. This technically isn't a new way to shoot because i had a similar photo of Steve Larson a few years back but I'm still pretty proud of how well this particular shot turned out. I got 17yr old Taylor Kuphaldt of the Davis Bike Club rounding the corner of 2nd and E St in a pack and managed to just have his face and the handlebars as the only crisp elements in the photo.

Day Tripping

These photos are kind of old but Miranda's been bugging me to get them up. Day trips back in May and June to Bodega Bay and Lake Berryessa.

Little snail on a bed of barnacles at Bodega Bay


Mir on a rock near that snail at Bodega


Mir on a peak overlooking Monticello Dam and Lake Berryessa

Senior Portraits, First Attempt

Wanting to be more like my local photographic idols Todd and Barabara I agreed to take some senior photos of Kim's daughter Amanda. I'm not very good a posing people and have discovered that, as useful as they are in everyday life, hands can be a huge distraction that nobody knows what to do with in portraits. Thankfully, having a cute subject is an easy way to hide the flaws in my own photographic abilities.

first shot, cute and simple


next shots, with a prop


Last shot, direct sunlight

Basketball road trip

After finishing 2nd in the regular season the UCD women's basketball team advanced to the conference tournament in Anaheim. Being the aggie fanatic I am I couldn't miss a chance to see the ladies advance to NCAA March Madness. But, of course, a road trip to SoCal wouldn't be the same if I didn't do some sightseeing as well. I headed to my favorite national park, Joshua Tree, before going to the tournament. Although extremely crappy LA traffic added 3 hours to the drive, causing me to miss sunset and not find an open campsite, I still managed to take some nice moonlit night photos, again.

backlit by the moon –


moonlit –


A car drove by and added some nice sidelighting to this one –


And for what it's worth, the ladies won today and will now play tomorrow for the conference championship and a postseason berth.

Project products

So I haven't done much freetime shooting lately. But I have finished a couple other projects.

I took a beginning woodworking class at the ucd craft center and got to build a super exciting cutting board. Now, besides cutting the cheese, I don't do much cutting. But it was simple and I didn't have anywhere near as many problems as all the other folks in the class so it was a decent accomplishment. Here's the finished product in all its oak/walnut glory


At the Enterprise there was a large hedge that used to be trimmed into the shape of an old steam train. Unfortunately the guy who started it died over a year ago after he fell into a lake while ice skating in the sierras. It had gone unfinished and overgrown ever since so I got tired of looking at it and decided to take the matter into my own hands. After cutting a few feet off in most spots it kinda looks like a train again. And now that the smokestack has finally had time to grow out it looks pretty cool.

Snowed in

In an attempt to appear more mature, Miranda decided it was time to trade her sport coupe for midsize sedan. The best way to accomplish this, a 12 hour drive to Flagstaff, Az to swap cars with her father who drove 18 hours from Kansas City. Why did we choose Flagstaff you may ask, because it's only an hour south of the Grand Canyon. Of course we did this during the worst storm of the season stranding us under 20 inches of snow for a night but the sight of the canyon bathed in white was worth it. And for all her attempts to appear older, Mir is still convinced clogs are decent shoes for the snow.

my favorite

repeating a favorite from last time, this one at sunset

From a slightly different angle and with extra lack of color

New Year's Resolutions

new year's sf 2008 from yerba buena


1. Don't buy anything made in China/Southeast Asia, which probably means I won't be buying anything since everything is made there now. UCD research shows that particulate matter floating across the pacific from Asia accounts for 4 to 6 micrograms per cubic meter of air—already approaching half of California's annual average pollution limit of 12 micrograms. Also, collisions with cargo/tanker ships is now the biggest killer of whales.

2. Keep in touch with friends better. I make this one every year and fail at it but this year will be different.

3. Take a picture worthy of posting on this blog at least once a month. This one sounds easy enough.

4. Have no need to make any resolutions in 2009.