Gary Crabbe / Enlightened Images

Picture: Young boy looking up at all the names on the wall at the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii

A few days ago I heard something about the experience of having your life flash before your eyes just before you die. I thought to myself, “Gee, I wonder what I’ll remember at that moment?” Ask yourself that question. What answers immediately come to mind.?

It’s easy to toss around the phrase “I remember that.”

I’m not talking about recall of facts or figures, or the passive and reactive “Oh yeah…” when someone else prompts you with the oft-heard “Do you remember…?”

Remembrance is active.

One of the moments I remember most from this summer’s trip to Hawaii is visiting the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor with my son. Pearl Harbor is a place that forces you to remember or reflect upon what happened there. This image of my son could be stamped upon my mind as a moment where I can see him growing up, thinking of bigger things. Empathy, perhaps?

I wonder if this will be one of the images in that flash-before-my-eyes movie? Franlky, I’m perfectly happy if I have to wait a very long time to find out. But taking the moment to think about it now, to actively remember the memory is like giving an affirmative recognition as to what is important during our brief temporal visit.

Take a moment to reflect on what’s important to you.

Please, please, please… don’t let the first thing you think of be Paris Hilton or Lady Gaga.

Picture: Panorama overlooking the Emigrant Wilderness at sunset near Sonora Pass, Tuolumne County, California

Click here or on the image to see the photo larger @ 1024 pixels.

This is another of the images taken from my recent trip to the Sonora Pass region of the Sierra Nevada. My buddy who was with me is a big panoramic shooter, and at his urging, I’ve started messing around creating a few pano images using the PhotoMerge feature in Photoshop. Unfortunately I’m still quite new at this, and at the angst of my friend who is quite versed in this format, I still haven’t yet invested in a dedicated pano head for my tripod. If I feel I’m being more successful at capturing good panos, that piece of equipment will soon appear near the top of my shopping list.

Picture: Overlooking the Sierra Nevada near Sonora Pass, Tuolumne County, California

This last weekend, my friend Michael Routh, a.k.a. the SmokeChaser and I made a trip up to the Sonora Pass region of the Sierra. This was the first of several trips to the region for my new book project. In scouting the area, not only did I come away with several nice images, but now I also have an idea of what to get next.

It’s such a lovely area, and relatively uncrowded compared to other parts of the Sierra. Sure, there were people around, but only the memory of one real idiot stands out. That would be the semi-tractor trailer truck driver standing outside his rig. Apparently he got it stuck in the middle of a hairpin curve as he was winding his way up the 25% grade toward Sonora Pass. I suppose he just missed all the warning signs and map indicators saying the road was not advised for vehicles over 24′ from kingpin to axle. The highway patrol officer that was guiding traffic around the stuck rig chuckled when I passed him, quipping, “This is wrong on so many levels.”

I really wanted to stop and take some photos, but there were no nearby pullouts, and the poor driver must already have been feeling lower than dirt. Even when they did get the truck pulled out with the semi-tow truck, I was still trying to imagine where on the road between there and the summit they would be able to get that thing turned around. I’m sure it’ll be a story shared around western truck-stops; “Hey, did you hear about that one idiot driver that tried to get his rig up and over Sonora Pass?”

Here’s another shot from our trip: Click on the photo to see a larger version.

Picture: Panorama overlooking the Emigrant Wilderness at sunset near Sonora Pass, Tuolumne County, California

Picture: Photographer at work in the High Sierra, near Yosemite, California

Today I turned in the edited manuscript and new chapter introductions for my current… no, wait… make that previous book project.

I’m both proud and honored to announce that I have a brand new book project I’m now working on. This will be my seventh book. And yes, not surprisingly, it too will be about California.

Fellow photographer and publisher, Laurent Martres, is founder and author for the PhotoTrips USA book series on Photographing the Southwest. He recently expanded his series with Photographing Oregon written by Oregon-based photographer Greg Vaughn. Laurent contacted me, and asked if I would produce another title for his series.

I’ll be doing Photographing Northern California, a Guide to the Natural Landmarks of Northern California. Photography will come from a mix of my existing collection, and brand new shoots. I’m excited to explore or re-visit many locations for this book.

I’m delighted to be partnered with Laurent on this project. It should be lots of fun… in addition to being lots of work.

Stay Tuned…..

Picture: Person reading on the coast on a cool evening, Montana del Oro State Park, San Luis Obispo County, California

Recently I mentioned some news about my latest book project, where I’d gotten an email from my publisher explaining they were re-packaging the book I’d spent the last year working on. I also mentioned the title has been changed from California; Yesterday and Today to being re-titled as Greetings from California: Legends, Landmarks & Lore of the Golden State.

One of the goals that was expressed was that they wanted to book to be “less academic” and “more fun.” My internal response was, “Yeah, good luck with that.”

So began the waiting game to see what the publisher had in mind. I didn’t have to wait too long.

Late last week I received two sample page mock-ups for the internal design of the book. My first thought was, “Wow!” I was thrilled. I think the publisher has hit it out of the proverbial park. In my (unbiased) opinion, they achieved their goal. They maintained the heart and spirit of the book, and most importantly, it looks “fun.”

This week I am working through the edited manuscript. I can’t wait to see how the full book turns out. I’m really excited.

Now if they can just do something about the cover mock-up….

Starting earlier this Spring, while I was wrapping up the delivery on my last book project, my loving wife took on the task of coordinating the construction of my new office. This wasn’t really about me or my office needs, as it was about my son needing his own room as he enters into his teenage years.

The office was finished just before we left for Hawaii in June, and I officially moved in over the July 4th weekend. Now that I’ve spent a couple weeks working in the new space, I must say I’m delighted to have my own man/office/photo cave. My favorite aspect is the dual windows that look out over my garden and backyard. A special thanks goes to my brother-in-law, Tim Roberts, for his excellent work in bringing this together from the ground up.

Photos: My new office:

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Picture: Hula Dancer doing The Wedding Hula, Paradise Cove Luau, Ko Olina, Oahu, Hawaii

Deep down, we all know it. But our brain likes to fill n the g ps.

Objects that are farther away from us appear smaller. That’s obvious when you’re looking across a landscape toward a distant city or mountain. But the same is true for objects at all distances. However, when objects are closer to us, like when looking across a room or a yard, our brain makes an immediate adjustment, so we ‘think’ that the things we see in the background still appear “normal-sized.”

Modern cameras may have an electric brain, but it lacks the capacity to make the same type of automatic visual perception adjustments for the scene coming in through its lens. Photographers often play with this fact by making people seem to miraculously hold up the Eiffel Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge, or even hold the sun in their hands.

In this photo, the male dancer was at most 8-10 feet behind the woman. Yet the camera saw him as nearly half-sized. At this moment in the dance, her pose of seemingly rocking an infant seems at odds with the small man-boy in the background. While watching the Wedding Hula dance, the audience all saw the male dancer as the attentive husband and proud father-to-be. But the camera turned him into a child by shrinking him in size when seen in scaled relation to the woman in the foreground.

Picture: My wife, Connie, and daughter, Alyssa in Hawaii.

Twenty-nine and a few extra years ago, the universe graced this planet with the birth of the woman who would become my wife, life partner, and soul mate. I consider that to be my greatest present, on this 28th day of July. I hope you’ll bear with me while I wish her a very public, and Very Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday, sweetheart!

This also happens to be one of the best natural light portraits I’ve taken in quite awhile. It’s a straight shot, with no flash or reflectors used.

For those of you that know us, you can clearly see here how our daughter (and her brother) has her mom’s outer, fair-skinned Irish packaging.

Picture: Rainbow over Polynesian motif wood carving, Paradise Cove, Ko Olina, Oahu, Hawaii

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. In fact, I say it just about every time I’m teaching somebody or some group about photography, or giving one of my workshop presentations.

A boring subject in great light will usually make for a better photo than a great subject in boring light.

On our recent family vacation to Hawaii, I was in full “Joe Bob Tourist” mode, snapping photos while at one of the island’s tourist-centric Luau’s. While walking along in the main area between the bar(s) & restrooms, I just lifted my camera to snap a quick shot of the tree and branches. (Below.) The roof in the lower left is where the Buffet Dinner is served. Because I knew I had the buildings in the photo, I thought nothing more of the picture other than being a simple snapshot.

Picture: Tree at the Paradise Cove Luau, Ko Olina, Oahu, Hawaii.

I continued my aimless stroll. Within a few moments, I spied a rainbow low in the sky, just above the roof of the dining hall.

In my brain, I instantly started looking for something to match up with the rainbow. The rainbow was too low in the sky to include the tree I just walked under. The buildings that I was standing next to were just too “yucky”, and a rainbow all by itself is… well, just another rainbow. Then my eyes spied these decorative wood-carved posts on the roof above the dining hall.

Detail from the above photo.

On one of them, dappled sunset light was filtering through the branches of the tree I had just photographed. I knew that if I exposed for the sunset light on the wood, the shadowed areas would appear darker, adding more contrast and drama to the scene. I thought to myself, “I’m in Hawaii and that looks Polynesian. That’ll work.”

According to the RAW Image metadata, the time difference between when I took the tree shot and the rainbow shot was 93 seconds.

This just reinforces what I tell my students, that in addition to looking for nice subjects to photograph, be sure to also be on the lookout for great lighting situations, no matter where it is, or what it’s of. If it’s great light, shoot the light. Make the light the primary, and the subject secondary.

Remember: “A boring subject in great light will usually make for a better photo than a great subject in boring light.“

Picture: Sunrise light on cliffs above Drakes Bay, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California

Many of you will recall my numerous mentions here and elsewhere about my latest upcoming book, California; Yesterday & Today, that had originally meant to be published this year. That’s apparently not gonna happen now. The first note of bad trouble came when I had to request a delay because I fell off a cliff just as I was starting the project. At least I lived through that experience to finish the photos & writing by the revised deadline earlier this Spring.

I thought I did a good job with the text and pairing historical images with modern images. Some photo sets were complimentary, showing a sense of similarity and continuity through the passage of time. Others images were paired to show a disparate relationship, highlighting the changes that have occurred. Editing out certain locations or subjects in order to fit the book’s format was difficult to say the least. I hated to leave something out because there simply wasn’t room in the book.

I just recently woke to find an email from my publisher informing that the book I’d worked so hard on writing, researching, and photographing, poured blood, sweat, and tears for, is no longer going to be published. “Excuse me. Say what?” I never even got to build a promotional web page for it.

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