“Murrugun the Mystic,” aka Scott Nelson is a hot act to swallow during a performance in San Diego’s Seaport Village. I shot a lot because the combination of the fire, noon sun, and brightly lit background. There were only a few angles to shoot from in order to get a clean dark background, so the fire would stand out and also minimize the distractions. He likes to move around a lot, so that added to the fun too.
My wife and I were heading home when she commented that the clouds and the light were very pretty. At about at the same time, I noticed a hot air balloon flying high above the clouds on a sunset flight and mentioned that they would have to get down pretty soon, or it would be too dark. Her response; "Duh, why do you think it’s called a sunset flight." After we arrived home I saw the balloon again, and with every passing second, the light was reflecting off the clouds with even more intensity. I pulled out the 300mm, put a teleconverter and monopod on, and started shooting from my driveway until the balloon finally disappeared in the clouds.
Many days the agenda includes looking for slice of life feature photos that stand on their own and don’t relate to a specific story. This kind of photo can be the most challenging because you can look for hours and not find anything worthy of publication. So using any element that can make them stand out and be different is a good thing. Interesting photos on a foggy days can happen, but it’s not always a slam-dunk. When all my other ideas didn’t pan out, I decided to look at a boat dock I hadn’t been to in the past. Boating photos in San Diego are easy to come by, so it would have to be different enough to make it worthy of publication. I arrived just as the fishermen were about to shove off, so working fast was important and paid off. If the photo didn’t happen with them, it wouldn’t have happened. They were the only people at the dock.
The Marine Corps Rifle Team fire a 21-Gun Salute at the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial atop Mount Soledad in San Diego during the annual Memorial Day ceremony. As the team moved into position at the start of the ceremony I figured, I would get a cool close angle at the end when they normally do the salute. WRONG. They did it right at the beginning and I wasn’t where I was planning to be and pretty much had no choice but to shoot from where I was. It didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned, but maybe it’s where it was suppose to be all the time.
Tashi, the 3-year old Pomeranian companion of Tibetan Monk, Drupon Samten Rinpoche puts his paws on his master’s head in the meditation room at the Tibetan Meditation Center in Escondido. The dog is pretty amazing in what he can do on command. He’s been in television commercials, print ads and is the star of a calendar for an air conditioning company in San Diego. Drupon Samten, says Tashi learns almost everything in only one or two attempts.
Sister Ana Rosa Aceves’ habit floats in the wind as she makes her rounds at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School where she is the principal. It was hard to get her profile and the wind working together all at the same time. It was a waiting game. I shot many frames and only this one had all the ingredients.
