Del Mar Lights

A series of photos taken from the west outside and across the water from the Del Mar Fair. The first is shot right before dark. If you go to the gallery of photos I took on this outing and thumb through the photos quickly, it is kind of like a fun flip book. As the night progressed, the lights on the Ferris wheel got more elaborate. Check it out here

Steel Wool and Fireworks

Last night I had an opportunity to meet with some photographers from the Meet Up group, "Best places to photograph in San Diego"

The founder of the group, Randy Miller provided the group with a fun warm up to the Sea World fireworks show that started at 9:50 pm. Below you will see my take from the steel wool show Randy provided. I fumbled around a bit for the first few frames, but I got dialed in finally. I need a much wider lens for this. I didn't know how things would be set up, or how close I would be to the action. I love night photography and I wish I could manage to join more of these meet ups. I'm very glad I was able to get off the waitlist and join tonight. I was fumbling when the fireworks started and they only last for 5 minutes. I knew I didn't have time to adjust much, so I just shot blindly. You can check out all 45 photos I took in this gallery.

Bud's Annual Burning 

Our friend Bud has a tradition in January of gathering a bunch of Christmas Trees and assorted other combustible materials for a VERY LARGE BIG BURN at Fiesta Island. We got an invitation this year and it was quite fun. Good people and a VERY BIG BONFIRE. The first pile lit had at least 4 Christmas trees in it along with some large wood from a growing tree that was chopped down and donated for the cause. The first photo is the beginning. Yes, it started this way. This will show you how fast a Christmas tree that has been hanging around in your home for a couple weeks will burn. There were at least 15 trees there to burn, maybe more. There was one that was very fresh and took much longer to burn than most. Most were completely burned in less than 90 seconds. The wood that was from a neighbors tree burned slow and hot and provided an excellent base for the fire. I imagine that pit still has hot coals in it 24 hours later. Those of you who have been around a fire with me know that I like to dance around the fire moving with a long shutter. You'll see some of what I came away with in the gallery I put up here.