Local Attractions

Living in Boulder, Colorado gives me the oppurtunity to leave the house, bike or drive in any direction and find something interesting to photograph within 5 minutes, guaranteed. Here's an example of this from this morning. I drove south a few minutes to finally shoot this aboandoned barn that I had seen before. The morning light today was really nice, so I decided that today was the day. It's relaxing in a sense to know that at any time I can get away from whatever I'm working on and go out and shoot photos and come back with something new each time.

Things just tend to get left to decay in Colorado. You see similar buildings like this everywhere.

My parkjob.

Big sky

It's literally right off of the road, passed by thousands a day.

Shock to the system

So it finally happened; I woke up and and the ground had frozen over night. The local Colorado inhabitants probably couldn't care less, but me being the California raised surfer kid that I am walked out in astonishment. About as soon as I couldn't tolerate standing in the cold anymore I ran inside to grab the camera. These are my findings on the first frost of the season as seen by new eyes.

Frost.

Everything has been lightly coated in ice.

Yup. That's my breath clouding in front of my face.

The grass is frozen solid. I never imagined leaving footprints like this in grass.

Mountain Biking

Since being away from the coast, I've had to find something to help ease my pains of missing the ocean and being immersed physically and mentally in nature. That thing has happend to be mountain biking. Jefri and I are biking more and more almost daily, and loving every bit of it. Here's the few photos we have of each other on bikes from a recent trip two hours south of Boulder to an open space called Red Rocks which had phenomenal riding.

An Older One

The Wedge, June 2009

This is Wyoming

Welcoming the fall colors with open arms

Not really having seasons is something you must overcome when living in southern California. Being there my entire life I could only say that I had seen mere glimpses of seasons; a little rain and some cold in winter, a short bloom of green come spring, then heat until winter. Fall damn near doesn't exist some years. Being here in Colorado I'm just starting to get my first glimpses of what fall will be. These are from this mornings bike ride. I'm stoked thus far. Much more to come I'm sure.

New Terrain

Living so close to the Rocky Mountains has so many benefits. There is an endless supply of hiking and biking trails that range from the foothills to the 8,600ft peaks. I'm hoping to get more hiking in soon before it gets colder.

Storm chasing

yesterday evening

From the archives

I've been spending as much time as I can muster up organizing photos and media on my laptop. I feel like in the last year I've been on the move so much that all of my photos have piled up and are taking up too much much needed hard drive space. I've got so many duplicate files to dig through. But while doing all of this, I keep unearthing photos I never gave a second glance.

Sano, summer 2009

Tales from the road Pt. 2

Coffee and bikes at the ready. Outside Moab, Utah. 

360˚ Pano off of Highway 128 in Utah. Click to enlarge.

Made me think of what Mars would be like with some life.

Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah.

No name canyon off of the I-70.

Tales from the road Pt. 1

This last month has been one of the most adventurous and exciting months in my whole life (thus far that is). I have been wandering, hiking, driving, and biking around Colorado now for about a month now, and I have seen things that I had only previously imagined existed somewhere. I have hundreds of new photos, so I'll start slow.

Outside Cedar City, our first stop for the night.

Sand Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

Me rigging up a portrait of  us.

Tomorrow

I always knew the day would come at some point, I guess I was just never truly prepared for how it would feel. Tomorrow I am closing a chapter in my life and leaving home for the first time. My girlfriend and I are going to head out early, drive across a few states, and end up in Boulder, Colorado which will be home for a couple of months. It's a little nerve-racking to be heading away from the coast and home for an extended period of time, but it's exciting and something I've been wanting to do for awhile. I'm hoping that all of the green and lush environment will leave me breathless and endlessly snapping photos and writing music. As I sit here in my room for what will be the last night for sometime to come, it's difficult to not think back to all of the memories I have here; both fond and not so fond. I will miss home and my family, but I'm looking forward to all of the possibilites that the open road has in store. Tomorrow will be a day I doubt I'll forget.

My home

I miss it

Dawn in Joshua Tree

Last night

The Milky Way, August 13, 1:30 AM

Beautiful things happen when you go with the natural ebb and flow of life. In this case, I ended up in Joshua Tree at around midnight last night only to be greeted by an intensely clear, moonless sky; the exact condition one hopes for when going to watch a meteor shower. And man did the heavens deliver. Another night spent sleeping in the Jeep made worth it by nature.

Creation

I'll admit it, I spend a lot of time with a camera in my hand. Almost any and every outing of mine means a chance at shooting. It's quite possible though that I spend even more time with a guitar in my hands. Especially as of lately. My girlfriend shot this photo of me playing inside of an abandoned power house hidden away in the Santa Ana river bottom one afternoon while we were out for a short hike. I rarely like photos of myself, but I'll admit that I love this photo.

Good days

Lake Silverwood, 8/10/10

Top of the world

I love the foggy mornings in summer. Gives us a chance to beat the heat and go for morning walks in the hills.

Missing the greenery

Living in the heart of Southern California, it can get tough for me this time of year. The heat of summer has about dried up just about any living thing, the crowds have fully inundated the coastline, and fuel prices are up (which isn't good when you drive a Jeep). I'm missing the intense greenery and all-out beauty that is Santa Barbara during the springtime. This was the Lumberjack hanging around during a camp trip to El Cap in the middle of an exceptionally green spring.

Chambered Paipo is done!

After a few weekends spent hollowing out, routing, and shaping, the paipo is done. Here's the results. I haven't had a chance to get her into any real good waves yet, but from what I have ridden on it, I'm stoked. This one is 4' even. I'm thinking of making the next one somewhere in the 4'6-5' range, just to see what happens when you go longer. I had knee boarding in mind most of the time for this one, but I would like to have a stand-up paipo as well. This one just doesn't have quite enough floatation to stand on. For the next one I plan on reducing weight more and adding more floatation by hollowing out even more of the board.