Diving into the archives for back-to-back birthday posts, this one a few years shy of the ole one-six. If memory serves we spent the long weekend holed up in a killer farm house, eating epic meals, driving back roads, and searching for photo ops. Sounds like any Elliott trip worth taking.
More Robles after the break. Continue reading
For Leslie’s 60th birthday the gang surprised her with a long weekend at the Turtle Conservancy in Ojai. Before you ask, it was amazing. Both the celebration and the turtles. We really could have spent a week on the compound, but managed to make ourselves at home in just three short days. In fact, I now consider myself a de facto tour guide after cruising through each and every greenhouse and turtle terrarium on the property. I like turtles.
More Ojai after the break. Continue reading
Heartland Quality, Baja Barbecue. That is not the slogan for Omaha Steaks (at least not the second part). But it should be. After this Mexican vacation, I can scarcely imagine another adventure without a $600 mail-order meat medley. If you read the preceding sentences and felt lost, don’t panic. You were not part of the Adventure Crew. And if you were not part of the Adventure Crew, you don’t drive matching champagne Volvos. And if you don’t drive matching champagne Volvos, you don’t caravan deep into foreign territory. And if you don’t caravan deep into foreign territory, you miss out on celebrating Chloe’s epic Baja birthday. And if you miss out on celebrating Chloe’s epic Baja birthday, here’s a few photos to keep you in the loop.
More Baja after the break. Continue reading
41 minutes. That’s how long our GPS estimated it would take to get to the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve. Problem was, it said 41 minutes every minute after passing Magic Mountain. Without technology or a concept of time, we looked at each other and wondered aloud if we’d made a massive mistake. Perhaps we took a wrong turn? What if we arrive to only patches of dirt? Who visits Lancaster anyway? Or, what if we hang in for five more minutes, round the corner, and stare down at a valley of glorious orange as far as the eye can see?
More poppy after the break. Continue reading
A story of resurrection. No, not one with a bearded dude coming out of the ground for extra nights of partying, but rather a story of photographic redemption. It goes a little something like this…
There’s a poem after the break (how’s that for a tease?) Continue reading
New rule. It is OK to do a late holiday post, as long as said post goes up on another holiday. The logic is sound, and I’m sticking to it. Today we flashback two months to our nation’s independence, and what has now become the traditional pooch-pool-party.
More images after the break. Continue reading
For a special someone’s birthday, we planned a special little surprise. Though she probably saw it coming (the six hours of airplane mode kind of gave it away), she was blindsided by our Santa Barbara getaway. I on the other hand came prepared with the Pentax 67 ready to capture the weekend with a little color, a little black and white, and a whole heap of California light (see what I did there?)
More Santa Barbara after the break. Continue reading
Oliver is a city boy, but you’d never know it from the way he loves the beach! On our last trip home to California, we made sure to maximize sand time, and even brought a few weenies for some companionship. I had a few shots pre-visualized that I wanted try in the field, and had a blast making them happen with the Xpan. Looking back, it would have been nice to have had color film (how quickly I forget the beauty of west coast golden hour!) Then again the high speed black and white helped with pre-focusing, a factor not to be overlooked when you’re capturing a speeding French Weinerdog.
More Frenchie after the break. Continue reading
My tribe has left me for the West Coast. This cold apartment has gotten a colder. But I take solace in the fact that my pooch is on the job, working long hours to insure the sanity and safety of his Momma. Exemplifying the required qualities of an Emotional Support Animal, he’s a dog born to wear the black and blue.
More Frenchie after the break. Continue reading
Last Thanksgiving, the birds descended on the NY nest for a Crosby cookout. This go-around, we took turkey time back to the Golden state. Splitting time between sets of cousins, pooches, parents, and grandparents, we soaked up the sun and our fair share of gravy. It was the perfect opportunity to test out my new piece of kit, the Contax 645, and I burned through six rolls without batting an eye. Looking back, I probably should have slowed down a bit as more than a few shots turned returned woefully out of focus. But user error aside, when this thing nails it…IT NAILS IT! It’s the keepers and that “look” that really get me going…Gobble Gobble!
More Turkey after the break… Continue reading
[gwu] Graham Whitaker Unterberger 