The sky looked threatening with what was left from storm clouds that wouldn’t open up and rain on San Diego, but it did make for an interesting backdrop for this photo. So while on assignment near the airport, and with a few minutes to spare, I waited for an airliner to fly through my frame at just the right place. Now if it would rain………
Some of the more than one thousand competitors in the annual Mission Bay Triathlon start the three-event competition by swimming in San Diego’s Mission Bay. It seems like there’s a race of some kind in San Diego most every weekend most of the year, so making a different kind of photo is the challenge. When Mother Nature cooperated by providing the dramatic sunrise, all I had to do was wait for the swimmers as they went by the boat ramp I was standing on along with a lot of the family and friends. I added a little flash fill for good measure. After that, it was just like shooting fish in a barrel.
It happens every year. Four and five year olds everywhere enter kindergarten, for the most part without fanfare. I went to the Scripps Ranch neighborhood of San Diego looking for something special, and it happened. After checking her backpack for all the essentials; the father of the little girl gave her some fatherly encouragement as they waited for the school day to begin. With little kids, you really don’t know what you’ll get. Most of the time it’s either crying, or hugging. It was a plus that her body language that said anticipation, and her dad reassuring her that you’ll be fine.
Members of the Point Loma Optimist Club in San Diego place about 170 American Flags along Rosecrans Street every Sunday, on holidays, and of course on July 4th. While on my way to another early morning assignment, I spotted the flag truck and made a quick detour and followed them for a few minutes. Would like to have spent more time, but the assignment I was heading to couldn’t wait.
“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.
