My 10 Favorite Images of 2008

In no particular order, these are my top ten favorite images from 2008. Thank you to Jim Goldstein for suggesting this exercise! It was fun to go through the archives and pull out my favorites. I hope you enjoy them! To see more, please visit my website or my Flickr photostream. Happy shooting in 2009!

[Click images to view larger.]

A beautiful sunset in Pebble Beach during the last few days of 2008.
"Lone Cypress Sunset"
"Griffith Observatory Moonrise"

I'm going to count the next two as a single image, since they pair together.
"Sunset/Moonset, Golden Gate Bridge"
"Priest Valley Spring"

"Violet Fog and Golden Gate"

"Downtown Los Angeles Twilight"

This is a portrait I took of my dad in July, just a few months before he passed away in October. I'm so happy I have this photo of him.
"Griffith Observatory and Los Angeles Skyline"
"Badwater Salt Flats" - Death Valley National Park
"Baby on Board" - Capuchin Monkeys in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
I got to try my hand at wedding photography this year when my good friends Christy and Scott tied the knot!
"Christy and Scott"

And lastly, an early favorite from 2009 ;) - "Moonrise, Joshua Tree"

Lone Cypress Sunset | Pebble Beach, California

This sunset was one of the most brilliant and riveting I've ever seen on the California coast. It seemed more like a summer in Hawaii than late December in Pebble Beach.

The tree featured in these photos is the famous Lone Cypress, which is the logo of the Pebble Beach Company.

You can see more of my photographs of the California Coast here.

Canon 5D, 24-70L, ISO 50, Lee 2-stop graduated neutral density filter.

[Click images to view larger].

The View from the Top | Hollywood Sign Hike

One of my favorite hikes in LA is up the Hollyridge Trail to the Hollywood Sign. There's a great view from the top of Mount Lee, and on a clear day, you can see Griffith Observatory, Downtown, Lake Hollywood, Palos Verdes, Catalina Island, and all of the San Fernando Valley.

[Click to view larger.]

The trail we took, framed in the Hollywood "O":
Walt Disney Studios is at the bottom right in this photo:
Griffith Observatory:

Fall in Wine Country | Santa Ynez Valley, California

I stopped off in Los Olivos for a quick detour through wine country on my drive back down to Los Angeles after Thanksgiving. There was some beautiful fall color remaining in the vineyards.

Canon 5D, 70-200L
[Click images to view larger.]

Envisioning the Shot | Griffith Observatory & The Hollywood Sign

One of my favorite cityscape techniques is using a telephoto lens to juxtapose buildings or landmarks in ways that are not usually seen. Several weeks ago, I wondered if there were a vantage point from which I could juxtapose two of Los Angeles's most famous landmarks, the Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood Sign.

This past Saturday was a glorious, clear, warm day in Los Angeles, so I went out in search of the view. I was so happy to find it! In reality, the Sign and the Observatory are more than a mile apart, but from far away and with a long lens, they look like they are right next to each other.

Now that I know where the location is, I plan to go back when the season (spring) and light (likely early morning) are better.

Canon 5D, 70-200L
[Click images to view larger.]

The Dodd Family | Portraits

My colleague's kids... and Thomas the Pug! :)

Canon 5D, 24-70, f/2.8

[Click images to view larger.]

Christmas Portrait + One More

I snapped a couple of quick pictures of my cousin's family at Thanksgiving for their Christmas cards this year. You can tell that my cousin's kids are pros at having their photos taken!

Cypresses and Magic Light | Pebble Beach, California

While visiting family in Pebble Beach over the Thanksgiving Holiday, I escaped for a few minutes before sunset to take a few photos. There was a fine, hazy mist near the water which created these beautiful rays of light through the cypresses. The first shot is almost straight out of the camera -- just a little warming and sharpening. Best viewed large.

[Click images to view larger.]
Canon 5D, 70-200 f/4, f/6.3 at iso50

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm bringing my camera with me to the Bay Area and hope to do some photography while I'm home over the holiday. Til then, here's one of my favorite Autumn images, taken in Reading, Vermont.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

[click image to view larger.]

Golden Gate Bridge | Sunrise, Moonrise

I grew up in Marin County, California and I took these panoramas over Easter weekend this year when I was home visiting my family. One of my favorite places in the world is the Marin Headlands, where these images were shot from. I liked the symmetry of these two together.

I'll be heading home for Thanksgiving and am hoping to get some photography in while I'm home.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

[Click images to view larger.]

A Clear Day in Pasadena | The Rose Bowl

It's rare to get such a beautifully clear day in the San Fernando Valley. I felt like I could reach out and touch the San Gabriel Mountains behind the Rose Bowl.

[click image to view larger.]

Los Angeles in Infrared

I first discovered infrared film as a high school photography student and loved its surreal, beautiful, and unpredictable effects. As a digital photographer, one can't use infrared film, but there are a few other options to recreate the effect digitally.

(1) You can recreate the effect in Photoshop, though I have yet to see the effect recreated perfectly using this method. Generally this involves converting your image to black and white using mostly the 'red' channel and applying glow and grain to the image.

(2) You can replace your dSLR's sensor with an infrared sensor; however, this is expensive since you need another camera body and have its sensor swapped out. You can learn more about this process here.

(3) You can use an infrared filter. This is the method that I decided to try out, and I purchased a Hoya 72 Infrared Filter. I've tried it out a few times and haven't been too impressed with the results, but I'll keep trying to iron out the kinks. I shot the image below of the LA skyline.

[click image to view larger.]

For comparison, here is an image I shot with real infrared film on a manual SLR back in the 1990s. The filter seems to create very grainy images without the lovely soft glow of the infrared film. I'll work on recreating the true effect in Photoshop and keep you posted :)

Christy | Bridal Portraits | Balboa Park

Christy was a gorgeous bride, and I felt so lucky to photograph her. Here are a few of my favorite images from her wedding and the day after.

You can see more of Christy and Scott's wedding photos in my post here.

[click on images to view larger.]

Believe it or not, this was pretty much candid. Christy was dressed and waiting for the ceremony to begin in a few minutes.

A couple of quick, simple portraits before the ceremony began:

Hello, Vogue model!

I love her sweet expression in this one:
I love these next two, taken in the cactus garden in Balboa Park.

Los Angeles Moonrise | Griffith Observatory

The full moon is one of my favorite subjects. However, it's actually pretty boring on its own, so I always try to juxtapose it with an interesting landscape or cityscape. Here's last night's full moon rising behind Griffith Observatory. The sky was a bit hazy last night, so I was lucky to get beautiful pink sunset light.

[Click image to view larger.]

Canon 5D, 70-200 f/4, 1/6s @ f/6.3, iso200